The state planning tribunal has paved the way for a 50 per cent increase in poker machines at Mernda’s Bridge Inn Hotel.
At a Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal hearing last month, members Philip Martin and Susan Whitney ordered Whittlesea council to grant the pub a permit for 20 extra electronic gaming machines, taking the number from 40 to 60.
Hotel owner Benmara had appealed to VCAT to reverse the council’s refusal to issue it a planning permit for the extra 20 machines.
The issue has plagued the council and Mernda hotel owners since 2009 when Benmara first sought approval for 60 machines at its renovated venue.
It was knocked back and offered licences for 40 machines that year, but it has fought to increase machines ever since, despite opposition from the council and vocal anti-gaming lobby group the Whittlesea Interagency Taskforce on Gambling.
Social factors not considered
The VCAT members said it was not the tribunal’s role to revisit the social and demographic implications of the proposal as these had already been considered by the Gambling Commission.
Instead, they focused on the planning implications and, more specifically, whether the gaming machines would be in an appropriate location.
VCAT cited plans for a full-line supermarket on the north-west corner of the Plenty and Bridge Inn roads intersection, the risk being that shoppers could be lured to gamble at the hotel after shopping.
But the VCAT members decided there was no guarantee the supermarket would actually be built.
“It needs to be said that this supermarket does not yet exist at present … rather there is simply planning approval,” the hearing notes say. “We see the case for 20 additional EGMs [electronic gaming machines] in this existing hotel to be a strong and worthy one. Our overall orders are … a permit should be granted.”
Whittlesea mayor Ricky Kirkham was disappointed the VCAT tribunal had ordered in the pub’s favour.
“More than $101 million was lost on gaming machines across our city in the last financial year, with four of our venues experiencing some of the highest gaming losses in Victoria. Put bluntly, this means that every day in the city of Whittlesea, our residents lose more than $260,000 to gambling on pokies.
“Council is very disappointed,” he said.
