{"id":89389,"date":"2026-09-06T19:49:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T19:49:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/89389\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T19:49:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T19:49:14","slug":"concerns-proposed-deer-park-housing-too-close-to-pubs-with-pokies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/89389\/","title":{"rendered":"Concerns proposed Deer Park housing too close to pubs with pokies"},"content":{"rendered":"

After years of sitting empty, hectares of land once the site of an explosives depot in Melbourne’s west will be transformed into 500 homes.<\/p>\n

Although the extra housing in Deer Park is welcomed, some locals are concerned that the proposal is too close to a pub with poker machines and no alternative community hub in the plan.<\/p>\n

“It’s a potential social housing disaster,” said local resident Graeme Blore.<\/p>\n

“My concern is the devastation poker machines are causing. Brimbank has one of the highest rates of gambling losses of any LGA in Melbourne.”<\/p>\n

Punters lost $185 million in Brimbank LGA last financial year, more than other local government area in the state<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The Brimbank local government area has one of the highest rates of gambling losses in Victoria. (\u00a0Four Corners: Jerry Rickard)<\/p>\n

The Deer Park Hotel, which is next to the housing development, recorded $19.5 million in gambling losses, while the Deer Park Club, less than a kilometre away, recorded a further $17 million in losses.<\/p>\n

“That’s over $100,000 a day, every single day of the year,” Mr Blore said.<\/p>\n

He has campaigned against the plans for years.<\/p>\n

Now, for the first time in his 70 years he has joined a political party, the fledgling West Party.<\/p>\n

Cost of gambling harm in Victoria reaches $14 billion<\/a><\/p>\n

The social cost of gambling in Victoria, such as bankruptcy, loss of productivity at work, mental ill-health, and divorce, has reached $14 billion, a new study has found.<\/p>\n

The new party has a plan to crackdown on poker machines if they win influence at this November’s state election.<\/p>\n

“We are not about outlawing altogether,” Werribee candidate Paul Hopper said.<\/p>\n

“We just see a much fairer and more equitable system for the people of Victoria, and we think these addictive features need to be dealt with and minimised.”<\/p>\n

Mr Hopper previously ran as an independent in the last Werribee contest.<\/p>\n

The West Party wants to remove elements of poker machines such as alarms that make losses sound like win, as well as changing the rate pokies can spin.<\/p>\n

Complex policy area<\/p>\n

Treasury collects $1.5 billion in pokies taxes every year, while the social impact of problem gambling in Victoria, of which pokies is the biggest contributor, was estimated to be $14 billion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The political issue is usually championed by minor and non-government parties.<\/p>\n

But the Labor government under Daniel Andrews made a shock announcement in 2023 that it would pursue a scheme forcing punters to preset how much they were willing to lose.<\/p>\n

Punters would require a card to play.<\/p>\n

It was hailed as a major step forward by advocates worried about problem gambling, but was slammed by the industry.<\/p>\n

\"Five<\/p>\n

Victoria’s treasury collects $1.5 billion in pokies taxes every year. (Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The state has since passed laws to enable the scheme’s rollout and a trial has been held.<\/p>\n

However, the wider rollout was delayed under Jacinta Allan who feared a negative campaign from clubs and pubs ahead of the November election.<\/p>\n

The trial was also criticised for being too weak and its results are yet to be published.<\/p>\n

The Coalition has previously questioned whether carded play would work after consulting the hotels lobby.<\/p>\n

“Labor’s carded play trial ended nine months ago, yet its results remain secret,” a Coalition spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

“An elected Coalition government will release the results of the trial upon coming to government. We will consider all forms of technology in evaluating the best ways to mitigate gambling harm.”<\/p>\n

Premier Ben Carroll has backed the scheme.<\/p>\n

“These things have worked,” Mr Carroll said on Friday.<\/p>\n

“They have had a big, important impact, and that is why what is evidence-based we have to look at delivering on.”<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/p>\n

Victoria’s political parties have different approaches to gambling reform. (ABC News: Danielle Bonica)<\/p>\n

The Greens want to phase out poker machines and have called for tougher bet limits in the interim.<\/p>\n

“The Liberals want pokies to be able to take as much money from Victorians as they want, and this will kill people,” Greens leader Ellen Sandell said.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s a disgraceful policy. Labor and Liberals are both in bed with the gambling lobby.”<\/p>\n

Long-time anti-pokies campaigner Reverend Tim Costello said he was please the West Party was pursuing a policy to cut harm but lamented the lack of action under the former premier.<\/p>\n

“Labor has failed to deliver on carded play. The Liberals? They’re nowhere,” he said.<\/p>\n

“They aren’t even talking about this terrible addiction that transfers money from the poorest people, particularly in Labor electorates in the west, to the captains of the gaming industry.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It is appalling for both the major parties.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After years of sitting empty, hectares of land once the site of an explosives depot in Melbourne’s west…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89390,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[153091,153094,10910,260,88548,31798,10911,153093,153092],"class_list":["post-89389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-melbourne","tag-brimbank-housing","tag-deer-park-club","tag-gambling","tag-melbourne","tag-november-election","tag-poker-machines","tag-pokies","tag-vic-election","tag-west-party"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}