October
OctoberMerger or takeover?
Interested to see the AJC members vote saw an 85-percent yes vote for a merge with the STC. (STC members voted against the merger on Monday night.)
Some in the industry are calling this a "no-brainer" and that it is imperative the merger go through for the betterment of racing in NSW. I believe there are still many questions to be answered before this merger takes place.
Of the $174 million allocated for racecourse redevelopment, Randwick will receive $150 million and Rosehill only $24 million. That sounds more like a takeover than a merger.
Furthermore, how can anyone trust the NSW government? The state is in a mess, with broken promise after broken promise. Industry participants should never forget how the government left them out in the cold during the EI outbreak.
The state government receives so much revenue from racing annually but when racing was in trouble it never helped, dismissing EI as a federal issue. Thankfully the federal government did help.
My question then is: what’s in it for the state government? I’d say check the fine print, because you don’t give away more than $170 million for nothing in return.
Padstow (NSW)