1788 days ago

We Say/You Say: Pokie Machines

Reporter The Hutt News

Hi neighbours,

Should pokie machines be outlawed?

A city councillor has put forward a policy to ban new permits for pokie machines in Wellington City.

Councillor Tamatha Paul, representing the Lambton Ward, is pushing for a 'sinking lid' policy to all but cease new permits for pokie machines in the city. The motion has widespread support across the council table and is set to pass this Thursday.

New Zealanders lost $939 million in pokie machines in 2019 and $241m of that was paid out to community and sports groups. Between 30 and 60 per cent of money going into pokie machines was from problem gamblers and much of that came from low socio-economic communities, a paper by the Problem Gambling Foundation said.

Share your thoughts below and don't forget to type NFP if you don't want your comments used in the The Hutt News.

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4 hours ago

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10 days ago

Some Choice News!

Kia pai from Sharing the Good Stuff

DOC is rolling out a new tool to help figure out what to tackle first when it comes to protecting our threatened species and the things putting them at risk.

Why does this matter? As Nikki Macdonald from The Post points out, we’re a country with around 4,400 threatened species. With limited time and funding, conservation has always meant making tough calls about what gets attention first.

For the first time, DOC has put real numbers around what it would take to do everything needed to properly safeguard our unique natural environment. The new BioInvest tool shows the scale of the challenge: 310,177 actions across 28,007 sites.

Now that we can see the full picture, it brings the big question into focus: how much do we, as Kiwis, truly value protecting nature — and what are we prepared to invest to make it happen?

We hope this brings a smile!

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21 hours ago

💨 Wellington: Is the real summer finally here?

The Team from Neighbourly.co.nz

It’s the talk of the town (and every coffee queue): the Wellington "summer" has felt more like a very long, very damp spring! 🌧️ We’ve definitely had our fair share of grey skies and raincoats lately.

In fact, The Post reports that our "pretty average" summer has been tough on the local venues and events that usually thrive under the sun. But don't pack away the sunscreen just yet!

The good news? The next couple of weeks are looking a bit more "settled" (the Wellington word for "not a gale-force downpour"). With autumn officially here, now is the time to squeeze every last drop out of the season! ☀️

Any local hidden spots or activities you’d recommend for a calm Wellington day? Drop them in the comments! 👇

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