Pokies blocked

By MELISSA MEEHAN
ENOUGH is enough.
The majority City of Greater Dandenong councillors put their foot down on Monday night, refusing to allow more poker machines in Springvale.
Councillors denied the Springvale RSL’s application for a further 11 machines, adding to the 44 already on the site, citing the already growing gambling problem in the city.
Councillor Peter Brown, despite voting in support of the RSL’s last application which was denied in February, said he couldn’t support more poker machines in Greater Dandenong.
“I think it’s time to say ‘enough is enough’,” Cr Brown said.
“I set an assignment for my students and provided a link to the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation (VCGLR) and they noticed the direct correlation between the amount of pokies and low income areas.
“They noticed that the City of Greater Dandenong had the second highest number of machines in metropolitan Melbourne.”
Cr Brown said residents had lost almost $19 million in the last financial year.
“That works out to be $100,000 a machine,” he said.
“Adding these 11 more machines will mean $11 million more is lost.”
Councillors supporting the application said it was unfair to single out the Springvale RSL, especially given that RSLs were well-known for giving money lost in poker machines back to the community.
“We are all aware of the good work they do,” Cr Kelly said.
“They look after a lot of families, war widows, legacy and returned servicemen and women.”
Cr Angela Long also supported the motion saying as a member of a RSL herself, she understood the work they did with the underprivileged.
“We’ve supported other RSLs in similar applications,” Cr Long said.
“It’s not fair not to support this one.”
Cr Maria Sampey singled out the effect gambling had on the Greater Dandenong community.
“We do have to put our foot down,” Cr Sampey said.
“There is a gambling problem in our city, especially in the Asian community.
“Families affected by this often can’t afford to put food on the table because they gamble all their money away. It’s a vicious circle. They gamble the money away, the RSL gives the money to benevolent societies and other community groups who then help out the families who can’t afford food.”
Cr Loi Truong agreed that gambling was a major problem in the city.
“It is a very, very big problem,” he said.
“We have enough here.”
The motion to refuse the application was successful, with councillors Long, Memeti and Kelly the only ones to support the application.
Councillor Ros Blades and Yvonne Herring did not vote as they claimed a conflict of interest because of their memberships of community groups who had opposed the application in writing.