Alice Springs Town Council to request to meet with Attorney-General on pokies

Alice Springs council wants to meet with Attorney-General Chansey Paech to discuss the government’s pokies harm minimisation strategy, after a community group called for protections from the ‘hazard’.

Alice Springs Town Council will write to Attorney-General Chansey Paech to request a discussion around its pokies strategy, after a community group opposed to the machines in the Red Centre called for residents to be protected from their impact.

The number of pokies at two iconic Alice Springs venues will double after Director of Gaming Philip Timney approved Iris Capital’s application for 10 new machines each at Todd Tavern and Gap View Hotel earlier this month.

In a letter tabled at the Alice Springs Town Council meeting on Tuesday, No New Pokies in Mparntwe representative Heather Smith wrote that, under the Local Government Act, the council was mandated “to carry out measures to protect its area from natural and other hazards and to mitigate the effects of such hazards”, which she said included new pokies.

The group, which formed in July 2022, cited three separate incidents of Iris Capital being ordered to stop trading at the Todd Tavern and Gap View hotel in January and February this year.

No New Pokies in Mparntwe is a community group formed in July 2022 in response to the applications Iris Capital then had before the Director of Gaming for 60 new machines in Alice Springs.

Ms Smith wrote the breaches demonstrated Iris Capital “can’t be trusted to follow the laws and regulations that seek to protect Alice Springs residents from harm”.

“No New Pokies in Mparntwe considers pokies operated by a company that cannot comply with harm minimisation regulations a hazard and calls on Council to act on its responsibility to mitigate the effect of this hazard,” she said.

She also cited the Alice Springs Liveability and Sustainability Strategic Plan 2030, which states one of the roles of the council was “promoting the interests of the community to others (decision makers and influencers)”.

Ms Smith wrote this gave the council a “clear mandate” to “speak up to Iris Capital and ensure they know the community does not want any more pokies”.

Councillor Kim Hopper moved a motion that council write to the Attorney-General and request a meeting to discuss the government’s harm minimisation strategy in response to the letter.

“I think there is a lot of concern in the community and they’re looking to council for some support around this, and I’m just wondering if we can formalise a request with NTG to come and meet with us so we can pass on those concerns and also ask some questions around harm minimisation strategies they’re looking at,” she said.

“It would be really good to understand what’s coming so we can be a conduit between the community and NTG around that.”

Alice Springs Town Council will meet with the Attorney-General to discuss the groups concerns. Picture: Kevin Farmer

Deputy mayor Eli Melky expressed concern the letter was attacking one business, and said council needed to hear “both sides”.

“I feel we should be able to support community, but through this approach it has made it even more difficult because I feel as an elected member I need to give the other party an opportunity to have their say,” he said.

“I think it is more to do with education and support and mechanisms and restricting how much we can spend on a machine, which follows the Victorian model which I think is a good model and would definitely support.”

Councillor Steve Brown supported Mr Melky’s position.

“Discussion that attacks the single biggest investment that has come into our town ever, we need to have our heads screwed on properly and remember our priorities and all the people and staff that are employed by these organisations are important too,” he said.

“It’s poker machines and not the organisations that should be in the firing lines.”

Mayor Matt Paterson agreed it was wrong to attack the business.

“But I also agree that there are people within the community that are looking to us to have a discussion with the Attorney-General and the government, and we do need to be having those discussions,” he said.

The motion was seconded by Mr Paterson and was carried without opposition.

A spokeswoman for Attorney-General and Gaming, Machines and Licensing Minister Chansey Paech said the government recognised gambling created a “significant public health risk” to communities. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

A spokeswoman for Attorney-General and Gaming, Machines and Licensing Minister Chansey Paech said he regularly met with stakeholders and would continue to do so.

She said the Territory government recognised gambling created a significant public health risk, which was why it would “continue to strengthen our legislation and regulations”.

She highlighted initiatives such as the Community Benefit Fund, which provided grants to organisations to address gambling-related harm and to research facilities to inform policies and ensure gambling framework remains effective.

“We have invested more than $7.4m to support intervention, education, and counselling programs towards ameliorating problem gambling and related social harm in the most recent round.

“A further $1.2m has been awarded to universities for major research projects.

“For the first time, we have introduced a Casino Code of Conduct which includes a range of conditions such as breaks in play, incident records, and a requirement for adequately trained harm minimisation employees in attendance at each declared gaming area.

“In August last year we implemented changes to ensure staff complete a Responsible Service of Gambling course every three years.

“This free online course ensures staff are up to date with the latest harm minimisation strategies for problem gambling.”