By Bonny Burrows
The graphic campaign against the controversial proposal for a pokies venue in Officer has taken a new turn with a billboard depicting an armed robbery being erected on the property next door to the planned site.
Just weeks after the distribution of explicit flyers to parents at the school gate, Rob and Marilyn Dowsett, have placed the graphic sign on their property in a bid to let everyone know about the “secretive” proposal.
If approved, the Dowsetts will be neighbours to the multi-complex hotel with 60-plus pokies planned for 2 Station Street, Officer.
The couple, who have lived at their home for the past 34 years, said the billboard was confronting for a reason – to attract attention.
“It’s showing we have some problems and we’re letting everyone know. They tried to keep it a secret, but we’re putting it out there in the open,” Mr Dowsett said.
The “secret” the couple is referring to is a loophole within council regulations that means community consultation is not necessary.
Cardinia Shire Council’s acting coordinator of strategic and economic development Tim Grace told the Gazette in March that because of the development was proposed for a site within the town’s Urban Growth Zone, public feedback was not needed.
The Dowsetts and other residents against the proposal believe that if they had not been tipped off about the project by a council whistle-blower, it would have been approved without their knowledge.
“It’s all been very hush hush. We are living next door to it and we weren’t told, so how many people don’t know?” Mr Dowsett said.
“This is a way to make sure people know what could be happening in their neighbourhood.”
Mr Dowsett, who supports Bad Bets Australia’s campaign against the development, said he believed the statistics show that pokies attract crime.
And that was not a neighbourhood he wanted to live in or a risk he wanted to take, he said.
“I think it would push us out, we couldn’t stand it,” Mr Dowsett said of the development.
“It would be extremely disappointing to feel we’d have to leave. How would you feel to be essentially forced out of your home after 34 years?”
Friend and fellow Officer resident Andrew McNabb was the man who informed Mr Dowsett of the proposal headed next door.
Mr McNabb told the Gazette that the sign was just another way the Officer community was “fighting back” against unwanted crime and development.
“Hundreds of parents will see it every day and thousands will drive past,” Mr McNabb said.
“The secret’s out of the bag and now we want people to ring council and tell them no, that we don’t want this development.
“It’s totally inappropriate for our community and we are entitled to have a say on how our community grows.”
Bad Bets Australia spokesman Rohan Wenn said the graphic campaign, which included the school gate flyers and Mr Dowsett’s billboard, aimed to shine a light on the hidden dangers of gaming machines within a community, while preventing a “damaging” development from moving forward.
“Cardinia council has a clear choice,” Mr Wenn said.
“Councillors can do what the developer wants and give him the poker machines. Or they can actually do what ratepayers want and refuse permission for these addictive and sometimes deadly machines,” Mr Wenn said.
Cardinia Shire Council is yet to decide on the application’s outcome.
The applicant has not responded to the Gazette’s calls for comment.
