Castlemaine pokies fight - VCAT day 2

Day 2 of the VCAT hearing on the Castlemaine pokies fight proved to be an interesting, albeit legally heavy, affair on Tuesday, August 21.

Mount Alexander Shire Council is appealing the Victorian Commission for Gambling Regulation's (VCGR) decision earlier this year to grant Maryborough Highland Society(MHS) a licence to open a club, complete with 65 poker machines, in the old railway goods shed, in Kennedy Street, Castlemaine.

The matter is being heard by VCAT Deputy President Mark Dwyer.

At first, the gallery looked quite depleted but the EPIC numbers built up throughout the day (yes still sitting on the left hand side) but The Club was well down on numbers today with just a few people attending (and yes, still sitting on the right).

The day started with the cross-examination of council’s social impact and gaming policy expert witness, Bonnie Rosen, who withstood intense questioning from MHS barrister Peter Caillard for most of the morning.

Mr Caillard sifted through Ms Rosen's report, paragraph by paragraph, questioning almost everything from what constitutes a skilled worker through to the location of the proposed building, the ratio of low income families in Castlemaine and their susceptibility to problem gambling. 

But Ms Rosen wasn’t rattled and stuck to her assertion that a second gaming venue in Castlemaine would create more problem gamblers in the town.

She defined a problem gambler as someone who can’t control their time and their spend on gaming machines, adding that research also showed more gaming machines in the town could affect the number of people who volunteer in the community.

The second witness for council was Castlemaine Salvation Army Lieutenant Sean Attard who was quizzed on a survey the organisation is currently undertaking in the local community.

The survey relates to social problems such as financial stress, mental health problems and substance abuse.

“We started it in May this year and only have a small amount of data,” Mr Attard said. “We are specifically asking people about the kind of support they would like.”

Deputy President Dwyer asked him if he had collected any data related to problem gambling in the survey.

“The do see some level of problem gambling in the community. A lot of those people see gambling as a viable solution to their financial problems … people tell us they have spent the money we have given them (for rent , food or to pay the bills) on poker machines.

“We have a support group for people with addictions and one of the people in that group was excited about a new venue opening next door because if they lost their money in the pokies, then we are just next door to come for help.”

Mr Caillard asked Mr Attard if the proposed venue went ahead would the Salvos work with the club to tackle problem gambling.

“We wouldn’t decline assistance to anyone,” Mr Attard said.

Council’s barrister John Rantino then called his next witness, Castlemaine video producer  Jim Coad.

Mr Coad was asked to document the pedestrian and vehicular activity at Castlemaine railway station during peak hours on a `typical’ Tuesday.

He set a camera up in a fixed position in the small park to the left of the station and filmed across the car park looking towards the entrance of the station with the old railway goods shed (the proposed venue) in the distance.

The footage was captured between 7.30am-10am and 3pm-6.40pm on the day and the film was shown at 75 times normal speed.

It showed a hive of activity at the station, particularly between 7.30am-8.30am and between 5pm-6pm with people, cars and buses darting in and out of the station.

Mr Caillard then called his first expert witness, URBUS director of economics and market research, Rhys Quick, who said he had been involved with more than 100 gaming applications for existing and proposed venues in the past five years.

Mr Quick said the proposed venue would not have a detrimental impact on the Castlemaine community.

“The cost of the proposed development, which is about $3.5million, would be quite significant in a town the size of Castlemaine,” Mr Quick said.

“It would generate more than 57 jobs (19 full-time and 38 part-time) across the community and $1.5 million in wages per annum, which would have a flow-on effect in the local community.”

Mr Quick said more than 120 jobs would be generated during the construction phase, utilising local trades people wherever possible.

He said MHS’ contribution to the community of $200,000 (in-kind plus a $50,000 cash contribution per annum for 10 years) was also significant.

He said the proposed club would offer patrons a range of entertainment options plus bistro, bar, arts facility and a function room capable of catering for 350 people.

“The is a range of entertainment options including bars and bistro already in Castlemaine but not in a venue of this capacity or size.”

Mr Quick said the impact on other businesses in Castlemaine would be negligible.

“It would have about 1.9 per cent impact of local retail business which is inconsequential and part of the competitive environment.”

He said there was currently a very low density of gaming machines in the shire with only 30 machines in a monopoly situation at the Cumberland Hotel.

“Even with the extra 65 gaming machines it would bring it to 6.42 EGMs per 1000 people, which is still below the Victorian country average (6.52).”

Mr Quick said Mount Alexander ranked 30 out of 80 on a scale of disadvantage of local government areas, which was at the “lower end” of the scale.

He estimated between 5-10 per cent of money put through the gaming machines at the proposed club would come from people who lived outside of the shire.

Mr Rantino will cross examine Mr Quick on Wednesday morning.

Late in the day, Deputy President Dwyer set Mr Caillard some homework and asked him to present evidence or a statement on Wednesday morning, which outlines the operation of the new regime (Castlemaine Sports and Community Club Inc or `The Club’) that will take control of the proposed venue if the application is successful.

As previously stated, MHS would only manage the venue but The Club committee would be the legal entity for the operation and take over all of the entitlements including the lease of the building.

Mr Dwyer wants to know if the new arrangements will change any of the evidence that has been presented to the tribunal in the past two days or is coming up during the rest of the week.

The VCAT  Deputy President also raised further concern about whether the hearing would finish in the allotted five days.

He said he would talk to the legal representatives on Wednesday afternoon to ascertain how they thought it was going and if it was likely to finish at the end of the week.

Outside the hearing, The Club’s secretary, Jenny Rixon, asked why the Mount Alexander councillors weren’t attending the hearing?

“If they are so much against a new pokies venue in the town, why aren’t they here?”

The hearing continues on Wednesday.