ACT Labor MLA Dr Marisa Paterson says her campaign to ‘Keep Molonglo Pokie-Free’ has received overwhelming support from the residents of Molonglo Valley.

At the moment, Molonglo has neither clubs nor poker machines. Dr Paterson wants family-friendly venues for the valley’s eventual 60,000 residents, but wants to protect them from what she termed “one of the most harmful forms of gambling”. Proximity to poker machines, she argued, increase gambling harm.

Dr Paterson, former director of the Centre for Gambling Research (Australian National University), launched a four-week campaign in early May, urging locals to pledge their support for the cause, and to share their views on what Molonglo’s clubs should look like.

• Marisa Paterson MLA wants to keep Molonglo pokie-free (2 May)

‘Keep Molonglo Pokie-Free’ followed Dr Paterson’s ‘Bets Off. Game On!’ campaign last year to end gambling ads on television. Many people told her that poker machine reform must be next on the agenda, she said.

• Marisa Paterson MLA calls for TV gambling ad ban (28 September 2022)
• ACT Labor supports the Bets Off, Game On campaign (17 October 2022)

Dr Paterson spoke to hundreds of residents  through market stalls, street stalls, letterboxing / doorknocking; 124 pledges were made on her website; and she received many emails of support.

The MLA said she did not speak to anyone in support of poker machines.

“Molonglo Valley residents have big ideas and bold visions for their growing community, and poker machines do not form part of the future that Molonglo Valley residents see for their developing community,” Dr Paterson said.

“However, this does not mean that residents do not want to see clubs and venues establish in Molonglo. Residents want to see a vibrant and diverse social scene develop in the Molonglo Valley. I hope this campaign will inspire a new way of thinking about the future of clubs in the ACT and what clubs can offer their members and the wider community.”

Within the next few months, Dr Paterson will pursue legislative reform to ‘Keep Molonglo Valley pokie-free’.

“I hope this is a pivotal shift in the ACT in looking to the future of clubs and what that looks like,” she said. “What would a club look like in Molonglo without poker machines? What does the club of the future look like?”

In 2021, Victorian research found that people living 250 metres from a gambling venue were 6 per cent more likely than the general population to gamble than those living more than two kilometres from a venue. This increase in gambling led to harmful outcomes for the individual gambling and for their immediate friends and family, Dr Paterson remarked.

Similarly, ANU research published last week showed that restricting access reduces gambling rates – particularly for those playing poker-machines.

• ANU: Restricting access reduces gambling (19 June)

Kate Seselja from the Alliance for Gambling Reform said: “I haven’t met a person yet whose first-time gambling was intended. They were going out to meet a friend, meet up with colleagues after work, any number of reasons. Then they gambled because pokies were there and available to them. That is when the harm begins. Proximity to gambling is a proven problem.”