17 August 2012
A Darebin councillor has warned that a proposal to install 50 poker machines at Fairfield’s Grandview Hotel could pose a risk to vulnerable residents.
Rucker ward councillor Trent McCarthy said the plan, which is due to be heard at the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation on September 18, is a “recipe for disaster” and would adversely affect a number of “highly disadvantaged and highly vulnerable” people living nearby.
His comments echo the Council’s social and economic impact assessment of the application, which highlighted a number of sensitive social services close to the facility.
Grandview Hotel, Fairfield
These include thirteen mental health centres, three older persons units and a rooming house for women.
The report also stated that the Grandview Hotel houses a number of vulnerable people at a low rate as part of a long-term housing scheme.
A spokeswoman for the Merri Outreach Support Service, which provides assistance to people experiencing disadvantage at the nearby Holmes Street Older Persons Unit, said poker machines are the cause of many troubles at the facility.
“A lot of people have limited opportunities and not a lot of things to do socially, [many] have intellectual disabilities and don’t know how to say no.”
The spokeswoman said that if the plan goes ahead, it would have a “ripple effect” throughout the community, with gambling losses often leading to excessive drinking and abusive behavior.
A Victorian Government report released last year found that almost one in five people with mental health issues suffer from problem gambling – a rate four times that of the general population.
Studies also indicate a strong link between social isolation and problem gambling, with poker machine use accounting for the vast majority of harmful gambling behaviour.
VCGLR statistics published in July revealed that $90 million was spent on electronic gaming machines in Darebin in the last financial year, with roughly a third believed to have come from problem gamblers.
The statistics also showed that five out of 14 gaming machine venues in Darebin are located in the Northcote Statistical Local Area, which experiences lower unemployment and higher median incomes than the Preston SLA.
A social and economic impact assessment of the application published by Urbis Pty Ltd said that the risks posed by installing EGMs in the Fairfield venue, which is located at the southern tip of the Northcote SLA, would be minimal.
“Residents and users of the area are not overly disadvantaged, particularly when viewing evidence of gentrification in the area,” the report said. It concluded that the installation of 50 EGMs at the Grandview Hotel would not be “detrimental to the municipality of the City of Darebin.”
Cr McCarthy rejected the report’s findings.
“You don’t get a good idea of disadvantage by looking only at household income,” he said.
Anti-gambling activist Susan Rennie, who successfully appealed an application for poker machines at the Stolberg Beer Café in Preston, said the installation of EGMs would pose a risk to vulnerable residents and direct money away from traders on the nearby Station St shopping strip.
“It is a very poor choice of location,” she said.
The poker machine application forms part of a $3 million refurbishment of the three-storey facility, which currently hosts a bistro, TAB, bottle shop and two function rooms.
The Hotel’s proprietor said in a witness statement provided to VCGLR that the renovations to the nineteenth century hotel could not go ahead without the income generated by electronic gaming machines, which is projected to be almost $4 million per year.
The Hotel has committed to contribute $100,000 per year to local charities and groups in an effort to offset the negative impact of EGMs if the application is approved.
But the Council’s report said this would do little to alleviate the problems caused by the poker machines.
“The social and economic benefits associated with the community contributions are minimal, and will most likely be offset by the social and economic impacts of problem gambling on individuals, their families and the broader community,” the report said.
The Council has the opportunity to lodge an appeal at VCAT if the application for poker machines is approved at the hearing next Tuesday.
Cr McCarthy said he would advocate against the proposal if it is put before Council’s Planning Committee for final approval.
The Grandview Hotel was contacted for comment but did not respond before deadline.
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