🔵 In the mall of the 'pokie king'

Who is behind the plans for St Ives' facelift?

Huw Bradshaw
December 03, 2025

⏱️ The 64th edition of our newsletter is a five-minute read.

Morning all,

What does St Ives make you think of? For me, it’s horses, because when you’re up there, you will on occasion see a horse trotting about. It’s a nice little call back to the suburb’s agricultural origins, in which much of the area was used as farmland.

From grazing fields to suburbia, it looks like St Ives has more change coming, this time in the form of a revamped shopping village.

St Ives Shopping Village, 1961. National Archives of Australia.

Leading the $450 million acquisition of the mall is billionaire publican Sam Arnaout, who the AFR has labelled a “pokies king” due to his vast portfolio of pubs and casinos.

It’s not entirely surprising, then, to see the plans for the St Ives Shopping Village include a tavern with more than 200 square metres dedicated to a gaming room. While I’m sure one little gaming lounge won’t be enough to irreparably alter the character of St Ives, it’s hard to see what good it would do.

If you’re interested in what the redevelopment will look like, you can read our full piece below.

🗞️ Anyway, let’s get into the rest of the news.

HEARD THIS WEEK👂

🎰 After years of loopholes, 4am pokies shutdown will finally be enforced. Kind of

Pubs and clubs in New South Wales will lose their permission to run pokie machines past four in the morning, as the NSW Gaming Minister moves to scrap decade-old loopholes.

What happened: Since the introduction of the Gaming Machines Act in 2001, it has been mandatory for clubs and pubs in NSW to shut down their pokies for a six-hour period between 4am and 10am. However, almost 700 venues state-wide have been circumventing that rule due to exemptions granted by the government.

Late night venues across the North Shore, such as Chatswood’s Orchard Hotel and the Hornsby Railway Hotel have been allowed to run their poker machines until 6am under these exemptions.

Exemptions can include if a venue operates in an area frequented by tourists, or if they are experiencing financial hardship.

Read the full story below.

After years of loopholes, 4am pokies shutdown will finally be enforced. Kind of

The new rules will affect late night venues such as Chatswood’s Orchard Hotel and Hornsby Railway Hotel.

🎺 December gig guide: the best live music events on the North Shore this month

Looking to see some live music this month? Here are all the best shows north of the bridge.

Read below.

December gig guide: the best live music events on the North Shore this month

From Christmas carols to Hornsby hard rock.

🛍️ St Ives Mall expansion “contingent” on council selling public roads to developer

The firm behind the St Ives Shopping Village redevelopment has announced the project would only go forward if council is willing to sell it public roads.

What happened: The first impressions of what a revamped St Ives Shopping Village could look like have been released by Iris Capital, which describes itself as “a developer and hospitality group”.

Iris Capital, headed by billionaire publican Sam Arnaout, purchased the shopping village earlier this year for $450 million.

What will it look like: If implemented, the plan would see the mall expanded towards Mona Vale Road, the construction of a cinema and increased underground parking.

But the entire project hinges on the council selling off public roads to the developer.

These include surrounding thoroughfares such as Denley Lane and Durham Avenue, which would allow the mall to be extended to Mona Vale Road.

Ku-ring-gai council is considering an application from Iris Capital to buy the roads, and the proposal is currently on for public exhibition.

Read the full story below.

St Ives Mall expansion “contingent” on council selling public roads to developer

Open air dining, supermarket expansions, privatisation and ... one big pokie pit.

LOOKING NATIONALLY 👀

👋 Barnaby Joyce is making a lot of noise about leaving the Nationals – but recent polling shows it’s not really the win he thinks it is.

In October, Joyce told his supporters he wouldn’t run in his seat of New England at the next election.

Joyce officially cut ties with the party and departed last Thursday, after weeks of speculation about a potential move to One Nation. And he hasn’t exactly tried to quieten it down.

While Joyce continues to frame his departure as a way to get himself into a “better position”, stamping his feet about being placed on the Coalition backbench, recent polling has revealed his latest move is probably more to do with survival.

Polling released this week from the Armidale-based New England Times has revealed nearly 60 percent of voters in Joyce’s electorate of New England wouldn’t want him to recontest his seat.

The polling found voters overall believe Joyce has served the electorate well, but believe it’s time to move on.

Just 10 percent of the New England voters polled said Joyce should recontest the election in the Senate.

Regardless of his reasoning, Joyce has been swarming the media the last few weeks, making himself a front page story.

And while the former Deputy PM might have his own narrative to spin, what have his soon-to-be former party members had to say about the drama?