Chief Stipe

I've done something about it. I listen to sky sport radio NSW. They don't talk about NZ races. So the next step is an OZ betting account.

If the Minister did as he said he did and appointed people to the RITA Board because of their expertise - WHY did they need to hire an external independent consultant to advise on the restructure of management?

Executive Chair - Racing Industry Update 10 June 2020 It’s been two weeks since we updated you on changes across the TAB in response to the significant impact COVID-19 has had on our business. Fortunately, in that time we have seen the resumption of NZ Harness racing, a full programme of domestic greyhound racing, and the reopening of our gaming business. And this week, an important milestone in securing racing’s future was achieved with the Select Committee Report on the Racing Industry Bill presented to the House of Parliament. We wanted to provide you with an update on these and some other developments which will be of interest to you. Racing Industry Bill The Transport and Infrastructure Select Committee have this week delivered their Report on the Racing Industry Bill to the House of Parliament, including some recommended changes. While nothing is confirmed until it is voted on, it is a positive signal to the racing industry that the Government has continued to prioritise the passing of the Bill especially in light of the significant amount of industry feedback to work through and the impact Covid19 has had on the ability of Parliament to operate. There are over 30 areas where the Committee have recommended changes and it will take us some time to work through and understand each of the different proposals. Our initial view of the Select Committee’s recommendations is that the overall direction and structure of the Bill remains the same as it was before the Committee and is still in line with the direction of the Messara Report. The TAB will be established as a pure betting, broadcasting and gaming entity, and the Codes will have greater roles and responsibilities for developing and promoting their sport. From our initial review of the Report, the key aspects of change the Select Committee has recommended includes: The establishment of Racing NZ as soon as the Bill becomes law. This is a formal consultative forum comprising the three Codes. It could carry out some of the functions of the Codes (if the Codes wish). Changes to the venue provisions of the Bill. The changes appear to require the Minister to have greater consideration of the community before deciding whether to vest a Club’s assets with the Code. Changes to the composition of the TAB NZ Board. The TAB is proposed to have three out of seven members appointed on recommendation of the Codes. A Selection Panel is proposed and the overall required skillset of the Board remains generally in line with what was in the Bill previously. Intellectual Property. The clause that gave TAB NZ exclusive use of racing industry intellectual property is proposed to be removed. This clause was viewed by almost all submitters (including RITA) as being too broad and encompassing, when the intention was for the clause to apply to negotiations with offshore bookmakers. Betting Information Use Charges (Racefields). There are some welcome changes to this aspect of the legislation which make it easier for the industry to require offshore bookmakers to pay for their use of New Zealand product. We will be working with the Codes to ensure we have a coordinated plan for this important revenue earner. The next stage of the process is that the Minister could also introduce any changes he wants to see included as part of the Second Reading. The Parliament then agrees to or rejects the amendments recommended by the Select Committee and the Minister. This will hopefully all happen prior to the end of this month. If all goes to plan, the Bill could come into effect by 1 August. TAB Transition Late last month we shared with you details of the changes across the TAB to enable it to emerge out of COVID-19 a leaner, more efficient business and focused on driving our core wagering, broadcasting and gaming offering to our customers. In parts of our business, such as oncourse betting, the trend for our customers is increasingly to bet on a device and on self service terminals. We have identified considerable savings for the whole industry by moving away from traditional tote services, however we know many of our clubs and some customers want to see a more gradual change. RITA is currently working with a group of major clubs and the Codes to explore options that enable some tote services remaining over the next 12 months or so, without compromising the savings RITA has committed to. There is broad agreement amongst the group that the status quo is not commercially tenable going forward and digital and self service solutions are the way of the future. The oncourse betting solution for clubs hosting meetings over the next six weeks are currently being prioritised given the lifting of attendance restrictions under Alert Level 1. Executive leadership team review As you are aware, in addition to major staff changes announced, the Board has recently undertaken a review of the TAB executive structure to ensure it is fit for purpose for the new TAB operating model, subsequent to the new legislation being passed. The Board has accepted the recommendations of the independent consultants we engaged to review the structure and we have advised our executive that we will undertake consultation on a proposed new structure later this month. The process is being led by myself with appropriate support and a Board Subcommittee providing additional oversight of this work. The Board expects to conclude the consultation process, consider feedback, and make final decisions in July. In respect of the appointment of a new Chief Executive, the Board intends to also revisit this in the coming weeks. Board extension Last week the Racing Minister Winston Peters announced that the terms for the directors of RITA have been extended to 30 June 2021, or the passage of the Bill. This allows the directors to continue contributing to work to help make the racing industry both more prosperous and sustainable. TAB performance In many cases the Board had to make some tough decisions as we focus on the essential parts of our business that generate the funding required to drive the industry. For the likes of Trackside Radio, printed newspaper form, and phonebet, the high cost of providing these in the current climate is simply not sustainable. It’s early days yet but pleasingly these changes don’t appear to have compromised revenue with turnover and gross betting revenue for domestic racing tracking ahead of budget, and close to or above pre COVID levels. TAB’s gaming business has also returned strongly with gaming turnover for the first few weeks above the pre lock-down weekly average. Right now, we are working with the codes on next year’s distributions and we hope to be able to give them a more accurate forecast in the next few days, prior to confirming a final budget at the end of the month. Once this is done they will be able to provide information on stakes for the new calendar which will be released early next month. Positive signs ahead While we are certainly not out of the woods yet, the progress of the Racing Bill, an early return (and full) programme of domestic racing and revenues returning, in some cases, to pre-Covid levels provide enough reasons to be optimistic that RITA and the wider industry can come out of this crisis with some confidence.

Interesting study released on Covid-19 on the USS Theodore Roosevelt. Of the 5,000 crew 100% were tested. 1,100 positive cases of Covid were identified - many of which had zero or only mild symptoms. 7 were hospitalised. 1 death. Since the first test another sample (382) has been taken of those evacuated to Guam - 60% of those sampled had antibodies i.e. they had had Covid but since recovered or were in late stages of active. 2 people have caught the virus again but that may be due to a false positive initial test.

I didn't expect a literate educated response from you Mehe. As for "we" who do you represent? Oh by the way this is one of your "experts" breaking his own Level 2 rules of social distancing -

$350k of that $500k was for Senior Management.

Ok well I don't consider Politicians or Bureaucrats to be experts. The Bureaucrats we generally see in the media are essentially politicians who do a bit of management. This group being politicians CHOOSE the science to support their agenda or narrative. So that leaves epidemiologists, virologists and other scientists. These I consider to be close to what you term "experts." Now as in any human endeavour there are good and bad ones. However what is clear now is that there is a consensus amongst this group that this virus for the majority of the population is similar to the flu in terms of its "death rate." The difference is its transmission speed and the specificity of the population cohort that it affects post namely those in their 80's with pre-existing comorbidities. Where there is no consensus as yet is the effect that a complete lockdown or variations from that have on repressing the virus. However there is near universal consensus that an economic recession will result in an increase in the death rate of the population. To me it is clear that the Government of 2 (Adern and Robertson) were given poor information in terms of modelling. The first information they got didn't come from epidemiologists but from dubious mathematicians and economists. Tens of thousands of people dying was never going to happen in New Zealand.

Hawkes Bay Racing Inc. $500k in salaries and wages. 39 employees. Covid-19 wage subsidy: Hawkes Bay Racing Inc. is one of the better clubs financially in NZ. However they still have a high cost model and may suffer from the sink hole at Awapuni as the latter will need more racedays to be profitable. Can anyone name another business where you have $500k in salaries and 39 employees and only sell their products on 14 days a year?

Mehe when you say "experts" do you mean epidemiologists, virologists, scientists or politicians and government bureaucrats? Which? I'd like to know.

No thats the Director of Health's theory. But we've seen this approach before Covid-19 in Australia. A property owner fighting a bush fire near his home died of a heart attack - the headline was "Bushfire claims another life." That death was included in the Bush Fires death toll. Not a burn on him. There is already research that shows an economic recession increases deaths. Recent emerging research shows that that death rate will dwarf those that had Covid-19 when they died.

Some would be dead already and most would be dead within a year. Covid-19 MAY have sped things up but it isn't what they died of. Respiratory failure is the main cause of death. As I said that post was in the context of what Mehe was writing. I'm not disputing the stats just disputing the meaning that has been given to them. In some ways they are a nonsense. Which is the correct total? Recovered including or excluding probable cases? Science also tells us that there were likely to have been a high number of unreported mild or asymptomatic cases. But properly testing the community for those recovered cases does not support the Prime Minister's nor Director General of Health's narrative. So when it comes back will you support NZ going into Level-4 again? The Government has already used all it's aces and has done stuff all to prepare for its return.

No I'm not I was writing in the context of Mehe's posts. Which doesn't change the fact that the deaths in NZ are Covid-19 related and happened to people average age 80's with pre-existing illness which most would have succumbed to within 12 months.

Says who? Yep spent $50 BILLION of borrowed money to save us from something that is as lethal as the flu and kills already dying old people. The USA closed their International borders and State Governments took different approaches. 380m and 100,000 deaths? You point is? You can't compare Auckland with New York either as the latter has a population density 6 times that of Auckland. Oh by the way did you know that there has yet to be created a vaccine for ANY of the Coronavirus's in existence? E.g. the common cold, SARS, MERS. Inevitably nearly all of us will get it at some stage.

Just like RITA needs to cut staff so did Air New Zealand. The difference is pre-Covid-19 Air New Zealand employed close to 11,000 people and were a large export revenue earner. So sometimes you need to reduce costs to save the employment of others. Note zero Government workers have been laid off and as far as I know there isn't a Government Department that earns significant export revenue.

Many of their local suppliers have been disadvantaged.

The families of the Wellington Govenrment employees who were allowed to first NOT work on full pay (Level 4), then allowed to work part-time on full pay at home (Level 3 AND Level 2) and now allowed to go back to the office and catch up on the backlog - no doubt full pay and overtime (Level 1). I guess the Adern will borrow more to keep paying government employees full pay from a declining taxation base.

Yeah and Adern has the cheek to say she is "very angry with the Warehouse proposing to lay off 900 people.." FFS they employ over 8,500! We are lucky they are not laying off more!

Well he kind of agrees as he defines them as "Covid related deaths." Those that died all had "comorbidities" - do you know what that means?

No they are statistics of people who died WITH Covid-19 NOT because of it.

Sign language your first?

My apologies but my "brains" weren't educated to comprehend your literary style.

Of course I forgot in today's PC world we can actually quantify the degree of lies.

What are "fibs"?

So we have had NO deaths from Covid-19 in NZ. Those that died did so from pre-existing conditions.

What makes you a troll is you can't resist having a dig at Brodie and then start calling him a plonker, liar,......blah blah blah. Yes and some people like BDSM. They DON'T have to do anything Brodie tells them! But anyone of us can express an opinion. Calling someone a plonker or a liar is not the epitome of opinion expression.