No thrill on the hill

By Justin Robertson
Mr Daley attended a Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) hearing in 2010, where he was given 12 months to start the job and three years to finish the $8.4 million pokies development.
Earlier this month on 5 April, yet another meeting was adjourned to discuss the road alignment and proposed pokies venue, which will now be heard in August this year.
Mr Daley is sick of red tape and just wants to get on with it.
“These delays are costing the community jobs and growth,” he said.
“The council has been frustrating to deal with and has been frustrating me for two years. We expect this to be over-ruled by VCAT in August.”
The plan for the Pink Hill Hotel and its 60 poker machines has evoked a strong community response, with 122 objections from locals and as well, the council is “dead against it”.
The development has raised eyebrows for its initial proposed children’s playroom to be fully enclosed with soundproof glass inside the venue, so that children were visible to parents through one-way glass from the gaming room.
Mr Daley said he would be submitting an amended hotel plan to VCAT.
“That’s just not practical,” he said of the children’s playroom. “Most places now – like McDonald’s – have children’s play equipment. We’ll be doing something like that and it won’t have any vision to the poker machine room at all.”
In 2002 the Pink Hill Hotel development was originally slated to be built as a club with 75 poker machines, with the Hawthorn Football Club as the prospective tenant. An agreement was not achieved and that’s when Mr Daley bought the licence for 60 machines.
“There’s a lot of supporters for the hotel,” he said. “The vision of some people is not as grand as mine – It’s freedom of choice.”
The Victorian Commission for Gambling Regulation said in a statement that Cardinia Shire’s density of poker machines was 35 per cent below the metropolitan and state averages. It is allowed 458 machines and the decision to go ahead with the Pink Hill Hotel development would bring the total to 339 – more than 100 less than the capped limit.
“You can’t argue against the machines on that basis. The ratio of machines per population is well down,” he said.
“We are well within the region of responsible gambling.”
Despite copping heavy criticism for the eight-hectare development, Mr Daley said it would be a boon for the region, which he hoped would get underway in 2013.
“It’ll create employment for starters and it will improve the facilities in the commercial area of Beaconsfield,” he said.
“There is more population expected with this development of urban growth between Pakenham and here – you can’t have that many people without some social activity.”