Page 3099 - Week 09 - Thursday, 13 October 2022
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The Greens’ ideological war on this line of spending completely ignores any of the historical context of the funding. It completely ignores the fact that horseracing was funded largely from an agreed percentage of turnover through ACTTAB, when the betting operator was owned by the ACT government. It completely ignores the fact that when the government sold ACTTAB to Tabcorp there was a steadfast promise on funding. We have mentioned it in here before. Brendan Smyth, at that stage, was the spokesperson for these matters for the Liberals. He asked the government at the time, “Does this mean that, sneakily, you could withdraw the funding?” They said, “No; don’t be ridiculous, Brendan. Don’t be ridiculous. As if we would cease this funding! This is a part of Canberra.”
At a time when this government’s coffers are being bolstered enormously by the point of consumption gaming tax—a tax which has just been severely increased by this government—it is ludicrous to suggest that some of that money should not be distributed back to the racing codes. Ms Clay ridiculously asserts that the only money that is going to wages from this appropriation is the amount of money that the race club spends on wages. She knows that that is not true. It has been pointed out to her on a number of occasions.
When I came into this place there was hue and cry from government benchers because, as the shadow minister for racing, I had a five per cent share in a very slow racehorse. There was a suggestion that I would somehow be able to get personal gain from my role as the shadow minister for racing. The ethics adviser agreed with me at the time that this was ludicrous.
What I need to explain is that that the horse in question was Agrionius. We called him Max. He won seven races in a couple of years, which is pretty good going. I believe his total prize money was around $67,000. So, as owners, did we make a profit? Did we make a profit from that? What do you think? Of course we did not. We finished behind. That money went into paying training fees, riding fees. It paid wages for strappers. It paid for the vet, it paid for the admin staff at the vet’s office, it paid for the farrier, it paid for the horse dentist, it paid for the transport company and it paid for fuel. That money ultimately could have been considered a part of this appropriation. It went into supporting the hundreds of jobs that are built around the racing industry.
The vast majority of those involved in the racing industry in this town are minimum wage battlers. They are battlers. They are salt of the earth people who often are working a number of jobs to try to pay the rent and to try to put food on the table. These are the people who would be hurt if indeed this amendment was passed. These are the people who would be hurt. What the Greens are saying to those minimum wage, hardworking battlers is that they do not care about their jobs. Jobs have already been lost because of the virtue signalling that has gone on in this space. The jobs of fair dinkum battlers will continue to be lost, simply because the Greens have a vision of Australia which does not line up with the vision shared by the majority of the nation.
My message from the people in the suburbs of Canberra to the Greens is this: we understand that the Greens are not fans of racing. Okay; we get that. We understand that the Greens are not fans of Summernats, that you are not fans of cooking a steak
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