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MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE
COMMUNITY SERVICES COMMITTEE
HELD ON WEDNESDAY, 2 SEPTEMBER 2009 AT 9:33 AM
IN THE COMMITTEE ROOM, LEVEL 15
CIVIC ADMINISTRATION BUILDING
1 GREYS AVENUE
AUCKLAND

PRESENT: Councillors Paul Goldsmith Chairperson
    Noelene Raffills Deputy Chairperson
    Graeme Easte  
    Greg Moyle, E.D. [From 9.38am, item 5]
    Graeme Mulholland, JP  
    Richard Northey, ONZM [Until 10.45pm, item 6; From 10.55am, item 7]
    Denise Roche  
  Deputy Mayor David Hay, JP [From 9.41am, item 5; Until 11.05am, item 8]
ALSO PRESENT: Councillors Leila Boyle  
    Cathy Casey  
    Bill Christian, JP [Until 9.43am, item 6; From 10.55am, item 7]
    Glenda Fryer  
    John Lister [Until 10.56am, item 7]

  1. Top APOLOGIES

    That the apology from Councillor Moyle for lateness, be accepted.

    CARRIED

  2. Top CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES

    That the minutes of the Community Services Committee meeting held on Wednesday, 5 August 2009 be confirmed as a true and correct record.

    CARRIED

  3. Top EXTRAORDINARY BUSINESS

    That an extraordinary business item be considered under item 8 regarding the approval process for Auckland City Council's submission on the Infrastructure Bill. Auckland City Council is required to provide a submission by 18 September 2009 which is prior to the next Community Services Committee being held on 7 October 2009.

    CARRIED

  4. Top PUBLIC FORUM

    There were no requests to speak in public forum.

  5. Top REPORTS REQUESTED PENDING

    That the requested pending report of the Democracy Advisor dated, 2 September 2009, be amended as follows:

    Date requested Target Date Report Name Comments
    Community Services Committee, 5 November 2008 - item 11 Oct - 09 Auckland City Alcohol Strategy Review - Scope This report is no longer required as a separate item, and will be considered as part of the Council's work on the Law Commission's review of liquor laws.

    CARRIED

  6. Top DRAFT GAMBLING VENUE POLICY

    [ATTACHMENTS 6A and 6B]

    The Chairperson moved:

    1. That the Community Services Committee recommend to Council that the following approaches to class 4 gambling and New Zealand Racing Boardvenues form the basis of the draft Gambling venue policy for public consultation:
      1. class 4 venues: council will not consent to any increase in gambling machine numbers, but may consent to a new venue if it replaces an existing venue, has less machines than the original and meets specified location controls
      2. New Zealand Racing Board venues: council will not consent to any increase in New Zealand Racing Board venues, but may consent to a new venue if it replaces an existing venue and meets specified location controls.
    2. That the Community Services Committee recommend to Council that the summary of proposal, statement of proposal and draft policy attached to the report be adopted as the basis for public consultation for the special consultative procedure.
    3. That the Community Services Committee nominate to Council three members of the committee for the Hearings Panel - Councillors Goldsmith, Mulholland and Roche, to hear public submissions, and recommend a final Gambling venue policy to Council.

    Councillor Easte moved the following amendment by way of replacement:

    1. That the Community Services Committee recommend to Council that the following approaches to class 4 gambling and New Zealand Racing Board venues form the basis of the draft Gambling venue policy for public consultation:
      1. class 4 venues: council will not consent to any new gambling venues nor any increase in gambling machine numbers, but may consent to a new venue if it replaces an existing venue, has less machines than the original and meets specified location controls
      2. New Zealand Racing Board venues: council will not consent to any new increase in New Zealand Racing Board venues, but may consent to a new venue if it replaces an existing venue and meets specified location controls.
    2. That the Community Services Committee recommend to Council that the summary of proposal, statement of proposal and draft policy amended to continue Auckland City Council's current simple sinking lid policy attached to this report be adopted as the basis for public consultation for the special consultative procedure.

    A division was called for, voting on which was as follows:

    For the Amendment: Against the Amendment:
    Cr Graeme Easte

    Cr Denise Roche

    		 Cr Paul Goldsmith

    Cr Greg Moyle

    Cr Graeme Mulholland

    Deputy Mayor David Hay


    Cr Richard Northey and Cr Noelene Raffills abstained from voting.

    His Worship the Mayor was absent.

    The amendment was declared LOST by 4 votes to 2, with 2 abstentions.

    Councillor Roche moved the following amendments by way of replacement/addition and were voted part by part:

    1. That the Community Services Committee recommend to Council that the summary of proposal, statement of proposal and draft policy, amended to rule out relocations that allow electronic gambling machines and venues in area with a deprivation index of 5-10, attached to the report be adopted as the basis for public consultation for the special consultative procedure.

    A division was called for, voting on which was as follows:

    For the Amendment: Against the Amendment:
    Cr Graeme Easte

    Cr Denise Roche

    		 Cr Paul Goldsmith

    Cr Greg Moyle

    Cr Graeme Mulholland

    Deputy Mayor David Hay


    Cr Richard Northey and Cr Noelene Raffills abstained from voting.

    His Worship the Mayor was absent.

    The amendment was declared LOST by 4 votes to 2, with 2 abstentions.

    1. That, as recommended by officers in the report, Council advocate to central government on the following issue:
      • empowering TLAs, after reviewing their gambling venue policy and consulting through the special consultative procedure to choose to phase out, after a fair period, existing venues which are located inappropriately or are generating particular gambling related harm.

    A division was called for, voting on which was as follows:

    For the Amendment: Against the Amendment:
    Cr Graeme Easte

    Cr Denise Roche

    		 Cr Paul Goldsmith

    Cr Greg Moyle

    Cr Graeme Mulholland

    Deputy Mayor David Hay


    Cr Richard Northey and Cr Noelene Raffills abstained from voting.

    His Worship the Mayor was absent.

    The amendment was declared LOST by 4 votes to 2, with 2 abstentions.

    1. That the Community Services Committee add to the gambling venue policy a prohibition on electronic gambling machines on Auckland City Council property and will make this a condition of future leases and lease renewals but providing a fair phase out period for existing machines.

    A division was called for, voting on which was as follows:

    For the Amendment: Against the Amendment:
    Cr Graeme Easte

    Cr Denise Roche

    		 Cr Paul Goldsmith

    Cr Greg Moyle

    Cr Graeme Mulholland

    Deputy Mayor David Hay


    Cr Richard Northey and Cr Noelene Raffills abstained from voting.

    His Worship the Mayor was absent.

    The amendment was declared LOST by 4 votes to 2, with 2 abstentions.

    The Chairperson put the following substantive motion:

    That it be a recommendation to Council:

    1. That the following approaches to class 4 gambling and New Zealand Racing Board venues form the basis of the draft Gambling venue policy for public consultation:
      1. class 4 venues: council will not consent to any increase in gambling machine numbers, but may consent to a new venue if it replaces an existing venue, has less machines than the original and meets specified location controls
      2. New Zealand Racing Board venues: council will not consent to any increase in New Zealand Racing Board venues, but may consent to a new venue if it replaces an existing venue and meets specified location controls.
    2. That the summary of proposal, statement of proposal and draft policy attached to the report be adopted as the basis for public consultation for the special consultative procedure.
    3. That Council appoints three members of the committee for the Hearings Panel - Councillors Goldsmith, Mulholland and Roche, to hear public submissions, and recommend a final Gambling venue policy to Council.
    4. That, as recommended by officers in the report, Council advocate to central government on the following issues:
      • amending the definition of "authorised purposes" in the Gambling Act 2003 to remove racing, and emphasise the importance of community activities and groups.
      • requiring that corporate societies distribute funding to the communities where gambling losses are generated, and that this be measured and reported at a TLA level.
      • improving and standardising reporting requirements for corporate societies on funding distributed for authorised purposes. This is to ensure consistency across the industry and to enable the Department of Internal Affairs to collect and report information on funding at a TLA level.
      • urging the Department of Internal Affairs to investigate more vigorously and, where appropriate, terminate the licence of gambling venues that appear to operate principally for the purpose of conducting pokie machine gambling as this is contrary to the Gambling Act 2003.
    5. That the Community Services Committee ask for specific views during consultation on electronic gambling machines on Auckland City Council property, with the view of considering this as a condition of future concessionary leases and lease renewals on Council parks and reserves.

    CARRIED

    [Secretarial note: Councillor Christian declared a conflict of interest for this item and was not present for discussions. Councillor Northey and Boyle did not participate in discussions or voting. Councillor Raffills did not vote on this item.]

  7. Top QUARTERLY REPORT LIBRARIES

    1. That the Community Services Committee receive the quarterly report for libraries, which provides an update on key usage trends, projects and achievements for the period May - July 2009.
    2. That the Community Services Committee note in particular increases in library use, including visitor numbers, issues, website visits, events and information skill programmes, in 2008/09 compared to previous years; further initiatives to improve service delivery including the Chinese digital community website, implementation of multi-lingual information about library services in print and audio formats in partnership with Planet FM radio, the 95 events held for NZ Music Month in May, the reading room at Panmure Library and the renaming of Special Collections; and progress on achieving significant capital projects in particular the Wesley learning centre, digitisation of the NZ card index, and commencement of the Waiheke Library and Service Centre design process.

    CARRIED

  8. Top APPROVAL PROCESS FOR AUCKLAND CITY COUNCIL'S SUBMISSION ON THE INFRASTRUCTURE BILL

    [ATTACHMENT 8]

    That the Community Services Committee endorses the delegation of approval of the council's submission on the Infrastructure Bill to Councillor Goldsmith, Chairperson - Community Services Committee, Councillor Baguley, Chairperson - Transport Committee, Councillor Bhatnagar, Chairperson - City Development Committee, and Councillor Northey.

    CARRIED

    There being no further business the Chairperson declared the meeting closed at 11:08am.
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