VIC: I can t stop pokies venue in poor suburb : Bracks

AAP General News (Australia)
12-29-1999
VIC: I can t stop pokies venue in poor suburb : Bracks

MELBOURNE, Dec 29 AAP - The Victorian government said today it is powerless to stop
an old town hall being converted into a 105 machine pokie palace today because it is hamstrung
by the previous administration's legacy.

Victorian Premier Steve Bracks said today plans to convert a town hall in one of Melbourne's
poorest areas into a major poker machine venue.

Mr Bracks said the decision to open the venue at the Broadmeadows Town Hall was another
legacy of the former Kennett government.

The Hume City Council has leased the town hall to the North Melbourne Social Club which
plans to develop it into a 105 machine gaming venue with a bistro and restaurant.

"It is distasteful," Mr Bracks told Channel Nine.

"We are suffering with the mess of the previous legislation of the previous Kennett
administration."

Mr Bracks said the Labor government would introduce legislation next year which would
place caps on the number of poker machines.

However, the new legislation will not be retrospective, giving the government no power
to stop the Broadmeadows venue going ahead.

Gaming Minister John Pandazopoulos said he was frustrated the government could not
influence such decisions until the legislation was changed.

"I'm concerned about areas that have already got high concentrations of gaming machines,
and any new applications obviously worry us," Mr Pandazopoulos told radio 3AW.

Mr Pandazopoulos said under the legislative changes the government would require the
Victorian Casino and Gaming Authority (VCGA) to consider economic and social impacts on
areas before granting gaming licences.

He said under current laws the VCGA only had to ask whether a venue had a liquor licence
and if it passed a probity test a licence could be granted.

"We might be stuck with Broadmeadows Town Hall being a pokie parlour," he said.

After the new legislation became law, the state government could consider reducing
poker machines in areas where there was a high concentration.

Mr Pandazopoulos said local residents angered over the proposal could vent their anger
at the Hume City Council elections in March next year.

AAP ljm/jlw/cjh

KEYWORD: POKIES

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