🟠 Mansion expansion
Also: Maroondah Council cuts ties with gambling venues
Matthew Sims
June 24, 2026
⏱️ The 146th edition of our newsletter is a seven-minute read.
Hi there 👋
Matthew Sims here, your reporter at the Eastern Melburnian.
🎰 Maroondah Council will no longer consider grants for pubs and clubs with poker machines. Nor will it book events at these venues. This was made official at a recent council meeting, in response to the impact pokies are having on the community.
There are 640 poker machines across eight venues on the council’s turf, and last financial year people lost $64.2 million at these venues.
💰 More than $20 million was lost at the Dorset Gardens Hotel.
🔎 Researching the story, I found that Maroondah Council was promoting a Men’s Health and Wellbeing Summit this Saturday at the Ringwood RSL sub-branch, which has 70 machines. Events like this will presumably be held at non-pokie venues in the future.
✍️ Researching, writing and editing stories like the one above is time consuming. If you'd like to support our work, please jump on the link below.
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Today, we’re covering:
Maroondah Council’s new gambling policy;
Why Boroondara Council approved the partial demolition and expansion of a Camberwell villa built in the mid 1880s, and;
How the State Government’s new political donation laws are still giving major parties the advantage.
“When we are making decisions about places such as this, we are not simply deciding what is acceptable for today's owners … we are making decisions that affect the property for generations to come.”
WHAT’S COMING UP 🎟️
FRIDAY 26/06/26 TO SUNDAY 26/06/26 | Immerse
SATURDAY 27/06/26, 7PM | X
SATURDAY 27/06/26, 7.30PM | Jenny Talia
EVERY DAY TO SUNDAY 12/07/26, 10AM-5PM | Play School: Come and Play!
SATURDAY 27/06/26 TO SATURDAY 11/07/26 | Melbourne Magic Festival
SATURDAY 04/07/26, 4-8PM | While You’re Young
SATURDAY 04/07/26, 5-10PM | Bombay Food Festival
📰 THIS WEEK’S HEADLINES
Gamblers lost $64.2 million on pokies across Maroondah last financial year — about $176,000 on average every day — prompting councillors to adopt new restrictions preventing council grants going to, and events being held at, venues with poker machines.
Last week, councillors approved the Maroondah Gambling Harm Prevention and Minimisation Policy, which sets out three priorities: advocating for harm-minimisation measures, supporting people affected by gambling and promoting alternatives.
Key actions include preventing the council from providing grants or support to organisations operating pokies and avoiding council-hosted events at venues with pokies.
Maroondah Council already excludes grant applications from organisations that benefit from or promote gambling, including pokies, sports betting and online gambling.
While the council rarely hosts events at gaming venues, a search of upcoming events found the council was promoting a Men’s Health and Wellbeing Summit next Saturday June 27 at the Ringwood RSL sub-branch, which has 70 machines.
Mayor Linda Hancock told the Eastern Melburnian the policy “does not represent a significant change” to the council’s approach to gambling.
Across the 2024-25 financial year, gamblers lost about $64.2 million across Maroondah’s 640 EGMs — averaging $5.35 million each month or about $176,000 every day.
In the first four months of this year alone, losses hit about $20.7 million, or about $172,000 each day.
Maroondah has eight gaming venues — five clubs and three pubs.
Club Kilsyth recorded the highest losses among clubs at about $8.1 million in 2024–25.
The Dorset Gardens Hotel recorded the highest losses overall, taking about $20.3 million — nearly one-third of all losses across Maroondah during the year. In March, the hotel won approval to increase its number of pokies from 97 to 105.
An indoor pool will be demolished as part of a second-storey extension to a heritage-listed single-storey villa built in the mid-1880s.
Covered under Boroondara Council’s own Heritage Overlay, “Warrawee” - at 624-626 Riversdale Road, Camberwell - is a 489sqm, single-storey brick villa circa 1884-1885.
The property was sold for an undisclosed price in December 2021. However, according to property.com.au, the estate is worth more than $4.5 million.
🏗️ What is planned? Planning documents seen by the Eastern Melburnian include the construction of a cinema, gym and basement. Part of the home will be demolished, and there will be a two-storey extension.
Previous conditions placed on the DA included the construction of a new outdoor pool to be on the ground floor, rather than on the first floor.
On Monday June 1, councillors approved the planning permit after introducing a last-minute condition requiring screen planting to stop the new wing dominating the original 1884 home.
At the meeting, Camberwell’s Annette Cooper spoke against the project, saying it was "disingenuous" to describe it as an extension.
🗣️ “This is a whole new main residence,” she said.
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👀 DID YOU SEE?
Victoria has capped political donations, but major parties are still getting millions
Five months before Victorians head to the polls, the state parliament has rushed through new political donation laws it says will level the playing field.
But the new system could hand major parties around $11 million in taxpayer funds.
How are the major parties maintaining a massive financial advantage – and could these new rules end up back in the court?
Archie Milligan from The National Account took a look into what the new laws would change and who benefits.
🥶 This week, I am doing a story on how inefficient homes built as far back as the 1960s have created poor living conditions for renters in Melbourne's eastern suburbs.
📬 If you rent in an inefficient house that you can’t keep warm in summer and can’t keep cool in summer and are happy to chat, let us know by sending an email to [email protected].
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Cheers,
Matthew