Zoe Moffatt
Fierce gambling harm reduction advocate councillor Joseph Haweil has declared a recent recommendation to redirect funds from the community benefits scheme a win for the Hume community.
Recommendation five of Victorian Parliament’s Public Accounts and Estimates Committee (PAEC) Report is to ask the state government to consider replacing the existing community benefits arrangements.
It recommends redirecting the 8.33 per cent of gaming revenue of clubs with electronic gaming machine licenses to a publicly-managed fund targeted towards reducing and preventing gambling harm.
Whether you’ve seen him quoted in The Age, The Guardian, The ABC, council communication or in this masthead, Cr Haweil has been loud and clear about his view on the benefits scheme.
He says the system is ’rigged’ and ’flawed’.
At a council meeting on February 12, Cr Haweil said he was surprised but welcomed the recommendation to consider replacing the community benefits arrangements.
“That is a major win of advocacy for this council,” he said.
“I think the outcome of that inquiry… is a testament to how effective advocacy can be where it is targeted, where it takes a number of different approaches, and where the message is one that really exposes the injustice of the system here.
“We have said all along at this council for very many years, that these clubs should not receive a tax write off if they are not providing benefits back into the community.
“That system that is in place now… is rigged, is flawed, is a major loophole.
“And it in fact legally… allows the club sector to rort the system in terms of using the reduction of the community benefits scheme to reduce its tax liabilities, and we know the majority of those benefits don’t go to the community.”
Cr Haweil also touched on the recommendation to extend the libraries after dark program.
“That is a program that Hume and Darebin were very much involved in getting up and running at Broadmeadows. This council then extended its participation to places like Craigieburn and Sunbury.
“Again that is a testament to the progressive policies that this council has pursued, where it comes to social policy… that is designed to reduce gambling harm in the Victorian community.”
