Concern at community capture [09.02.07]

Problem Gambling Foundation of New Zealand CEO, John Stansfield, is concerned that pokie trusts may be misusing their financial power over community organisations by encouraging them to lobby Territorial Local Authorities that are reviewing their gambling policies.

Mr Stansfield says the practice first came to their notice after the ‘Nelson Region Region Hospice Trust’ made a submission to the Council opposing a proposed new gaming policy that would introduce a sinking lid for pokies.

“We discovered the Lion Foundation had written to community organisations that they fund asking them to make submissions. Some of these organisations unquestioningly included misleading information in that letter in their submissions,” says Mr Stansfield.

“This led to the unusual situation of organisations like the hospice which is involved in healthcare, downplaying the negative community health impacts of pokies in an attempt to protect the flow of pokie funds into their coffers.”

Mr Stansfield says the hospice chairwoman told councillors the hospice had received $1 million from gaming trusts since 2001.

“It is an absolute abuse of the unequal relationship between funding bodies and struggling community organisations for the funder to ask the organisation it is funding to make political submissions.’

“Community organisations have to be very wary of funder capture at the best of times. When the pokie trusts are waving big wads of money around it is sometimes tempting to put principles aside.”

“Those of us who work in the community sector have to constantly remind ourselves that we have a responsibility to overall community well-being that should never be compromised for cash.”

Mr Stansfield says he hopes those councillors that voted against the sinking lid policy were not unduly influenced by submissions initiated by the Lion Foundation.

“We are concerned that the democratic process has been manipulated. We will be keeping an eye on gambling policy reviews around the country and if we see much more of this sort of behaviour we will be reminding voters how their councillors voted at local government election time.”

ENDS

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