Thursday, 16 November 2023

Poker machines

Katherine COPSEY (Southern Metropolitan) (17:49): (598) My adjournment this evening is for the Minister for Planning. In August 2019 the City of Melbourne requested that the Minister for Planning approve their planning scheme amendment C366 gaming policy. More than four years later the City of Melbourne has yet to be advised of the minister’s decision. The City of Melbourne seek to revise their policy to strengthen the criteria for installation of new poker machines after assessing vulnerability to gambling harm in the city. Similar to some other local government areas, the City of Melbourne has mapped areas of high social vulnerability in their municipality using SEIFA scores, the socio-economic indexes for areas. The ABS regularly publishes these scores, combining census data on income, education, employment, occupation, housing and family structure to summarise the socio-economic characteristics of an area. Among its objectives, the City of Melbourne’s revised policy assists in guiding the appropriate location and operation of gambling venues and reducing the concentration of poker machines in the Hoddle grid, where they contribute to convenience gambling. A range of other social and economic impacts are also assessed. My adjournment to the minister: surely after more than four years you have had ample time to consider this amendment, and I request that you provide your decision to the City of Melbourne.