Some of you may have seen my views n social media etc.
Basically I hate Big Government, Big Corporations and other conglomerates who try to tell me what to do or how to think. I’LL BET YOU DO TOO.
I battled for nearly 20 years against the restrictive practices of State Governments acting together to stifle competition in favour of the State owned TABS etc. I published evidence of this in Horse Racing Australia magazine when the Racing Minister of NSW at the time put it in writing to the Norfolk Island Government which licensed an entity to cut the TABS margin in half. He reminded them of the “Gentlemens Agreement” that was to the effect no State Government or Territory would compete in another Governments gambling business.
When I took this to ASIC they told me it would be up to the Council of Australian Governments to look at it…well of course they wouldn’t even though it would be totally illegal for companies to operate this way.
I hate how Peter Vlandys forced race field levies on us (he says the corporate bookmakers but I say the hapless punters who have been paying for it. DID HE THINK THEY WOULDN’T PASS IT ON). He even publicly stated that punters are so stupid that would continue to invest no matter how much tax got loaded onto it. His statement made it TO THE pages of the Sydney Morning Herald among others.
Then there’s how the States ruled that all dividends had to be written down to the nearest 10c, ostensibly to save counter staff having to find copper change when we know that virtually nobody bets low enough to be affected and yes that was in the 70’s or 80’s yet still exits today.
As an example a dividend of $1.09 became $1.00, a reduction of 8.25%. but an average of 1% to 8.25% so say around 5%. On a $100 investment that is $5.
When Nick Greiner who became NSW Premier, and had told us he would discontinue the practice, he was advised by treasury officials that they would be happy to do it if he could tell them where to get the $75,000 a day extra profit the Government was making out of it.
He changed his mind. That’s how Government operates.
And now we have Governments telling us we can’t use gas, we can’t use Nuclear, and definitely never have a wood fired BBQ or stove but we can have Chinese made Solar Panels and Wind Turbines that can’t be recycled.
I could go on but what would be the use. We have to be careful what we say now and could even be charged with “offensive” language but only if it denigrates someone of another race or gender. We no longer bother to arrest people and clog up the courts for swearing at regular people.
And worse, we now have many people telling us from the Prime Minister down that if we disagree with him we are “chicken Littles” or “doomsayers” or better still “racists”. I’m guessing most of us will die before getting an apology.
So I have been accused of turning my Enews into a political commentary. No! far from it. I have spent the past 37 years now fighting for the rights of Punters…that’s YOU. And its why I haven’t fully retired.
The beneficiaries of race field levies are owners (finally getting a better deal) and breeders, of which I am one with a little dabble I admit, but it should not have been taken by Governments, which should have contributed out of their own share of revenue, not we mere punters.
