Cassy O’Connor MP | Greens Leader
Tasmanians still don’t know what they’ll be paying to subsidise the casino pokies tax deal the Liberals have struck with Federal Group.
The deal has been sealed in negotiations between the Premier, Finance Minister Michael Ferguson and the Federal Group over the past three years.
Three years ago the Premier said the casino pokies tax rate was under review as part of talks over the expiry of the Federal Monopoly Deed in 2018.
The current arrangements are based on a yearly rolling agreement extension for five years.
The new arrangement, which licenses individuals gambling venues in pubs and clubs until 2043, are detailed in the legislation the Premier has confirmed he intends to table in the first half of this year.
The casino pokies tax deal could cost the State hundreds of millions of dollars over the life of the deal.
That’s hundreds of millions of dollars not going in to hospitals, schools and new affordable homes.
Peter Gutwein is hoping to sail all the way to polling day without telling Tasmanians what they’ll pay to subsidise the Sydney-based Farrell family’s continued profiteering from human misery.
He knows the negotiated casino pokies rate, and is deliberately trying to conceal it from Tasmanian voters.