Oscar Parry

Macedon Ranges councillors voted to adopt a new Gambling Harm Minimisation Policy and revoke the previously adopted Electronic Gaming Machine (Pokies) Community Policy at last week’s meeting.

However, on Friday afternoon Star Weekly was notified that a notice of motion to recind that decision had been lodged and would be discussed at council’s next meeting on 16 September.

The Gambling Harm Minimisation Policy consisted of five sections – ‘lead’, ‘regulate’, ‘advocate and partner’, and ‘inform’.

A debate ensued around point five of the ‘regulate’ section, which said “Work with current EGM licence holders leasing Council owned or managed land to relinquish their EGM licence and divest themselves of EGMs.”

Councillors debated the effects this would have on one particular organisation, the Kyneton Bowling Club, which operates electronic gambling machines as a source of revenue.

Councillor Jennifer Anderson said that the policy aims to unite the council against supporting gambling in the shire and protecting vulnerable community members from the harms of gambling.

“What we are doing with this policy is saying if a community group does want to take some funding from council, if for that same activity or event or publication, they also want to take funding from gaming machines, then we are saying we cannot co-brand – that is not what we’re about,” Cr Anderson said.

“On the VCCC’s website, $24,903 was spent on poker machines per day in the Macedon Ranges in 2023. In the 23–24 year, $9.695 million was lost by players,” she said.

When put to a vote Cr Jennifer Anderson, Cr Rob Guthrie, and Mayor Cr Annette Death voted in favour of the motion, while Cr Janet Pearce, Cr Bill West, Cr Mark Ridgeway and Cr Geoff Neil were opposed and it was lost.

Instead, an alternate motion raised by Cr Mark Ridgeway was carried, which altered wording in point five of the regulate section to include discussing the implications of the policy and providing guidance to venues with gambling machines to seek support in relinquishing their EGM licence and divesting themselves of EGMs over an agreed timeframe.

Cr Annette Death said that the alteration of wording to “encourage” created “zero obligation for action to be taken” and that there was “actually no teeth behind” the motion.

All councillors in attendance voted in favour of the altered motion, except Cr Death, Cr Anderson, and Cr Guthrie.