Mug punter

Peter Kaye

PETER KAYE
Independent Candidate for Windermere
MEDIA RELEASE
Written and authorised by Peter Kaye, 13 Glencoe Avenue, Launceston Tas 7250
AIRD THE BIGGEST SUCKER AT THE RACE TRACK
The Treasurer, Michael Aird, was the biggest sucker on Tasmanian race tracks if he thinks selling The
Tote is a good idea for the industry, according to independent candidate for the Legislative Council seat
of Windermere, Peter Kaye.
“This Treasurer adds a new dimension to the term ‘mug punter’ if he cannot see how, down the track,
the racing industry participants, especially the punters, will be worse off.”
“And once the punters leave the building, the local industry will collapse on itself at a rate of knots that
would leave the Treasurer’s head spinning. Like any vandal, of course, he’ll be long gone from the scene
of the crime.”
“The racing industry as a whole supports thousands and thousands of Tasmanians and keeps them in a
job so why, oh why, would you muck around with this for the sake of a short term financial gain that
will soon be swallowed up in to Consolidated Revenue and disappear down the sewer of Government
mis-spending?”
Mr Kaye said it was a disgrace that the Treasurer was prepared to sacrifice a whole industry on the altar
of privatisation.
“In a few short years we’ll hear the familiar cries from the new owners, acting, of course, in the interests
of shareholders. We’ll hear how they simply have to increase the take from win and place and exotic
betting to cover so called costs and so it will go on – every step a disadvantage to punters and trainers
and owners alike.”
“The Treasurer keeps bleating that it’s ‘not a core Government business’. Well what the hell is? Health?
Well they’ve failed there. River care? Well they’ve failed there. Openness and transparency for the sake
of the voters? Well, they’ve failed miserably at that as well.”
“Anyone in the Legislative Council that supports this sale of The Tote has learned absolutely nothing
from the twin fiascos of the sales of Telstra and the Commonwealth Bank.”
“It’s time to break the cycle of Governments of all persuasions flogging off public assets that have taken
generations to build.”

www.peterkaye.com.au