Jonathan Sriranganathan, Greens candidate for Lord Mayor, has posted a lengthy post on the alien site about it. You can find a direct link here or an archive.org link here.
Additionally, here is a direct link to a spreadsheet his team compiled showing all the clubs on Council land, and how many pokies they have. The claim is that BCC is the biggest landlord of pokies in Brisbane, at 2,000 machines, ahead of Treasury at 1,300.
Shit that’s a lot, here’s to them finally getting closer to banning that shit!
Most importantly, we also want to allocate an extra $6 million per year in direct funding for 50 different clubs across the city to host free, original live music gigs every week.
…
It’s pretty straightforward: ban poker machines from council venues, and fund more live music at community venues instead.
Thats huge… It’s such a double win that it’s really a no-brainer, IMO. Can’t wait to hear the LNP hot take about how this is destroying local venues something something mum and dad investors something something outrageous loony left.
EDIT: Well, Labors quick to have a crack: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-18/greens-vow-to-abolish-brisbane-city-council-owned-pokies/103359440
Labor’s lord mayoral candidate Tracey Price said banning pokies at community clubs would only result in punters going elsewhere.
“The Greens have again come up with a proposal that will damage community clubs for no positive benefit,” Ms Price said.
Cheers for the Labor update. It isn’t too surprising to be honest, even if it is disappointing. Very status quo.
