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Dean McKenzie interview


Kopia

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Just happened to look at the RITA website today and saw a recorded interview with McKenzie by Aiden Rodley. Looks like it was taped on Friday. Now, McKenzie seems like a fair sort of bloke, but its obvious that he and the rest of his Board haven't got a fucking clue as to how the racing industry in NZ will survive....talking about betting on Russian sport? Come on Deano, not your best shot. They're bleeding to the extent of AT LEAST one million bucks a week, and when Rodley asked him about staff cuts etc, McKenzie could only say he had taken a 'cut' and some staff had been told to use their leave? WTF?

What the rest of us plebs want to hear is what about all the other staff at TAB/RITA/NZTR etc etc...with no racing how can 90% of them be paid anything? Let them survive on $570 a week like a lot of racing people who have completely lost their incomes...and we also want to hear about the restructuring that is absolutely necessary. Salaries and perks just have to either be reduced in a big way or sent packing altogether. So come on Dean, and I reckon you'll read this, we want to hear real plans, not sticking plaster over the big wounds mate. If the control freak cindy extends the lockdown I'd say racing is buggered and can anyone see the govt helping? Where's Winny, picking cockles at his private beach in Northland??

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AIR NZ planning to make approx 380 pilots redundant...why?

Planes aren't flying...no income....therefore no work for pilots...therefore you're goneburgers. #

Compare this to the overinflated employee structure that RITA commands...

No racing..therefore no income...but you can all still collect off the gravy express delivering every day. Anyone surprised?

 

#..there is every chance that when Air NZ can start normal service they'll re-hire pilots again. But guess what? The terms of employment sure aint what they've been used to in the past. It'll be 'our way or the highway'..?

Dean...Dean ...are you there Dean

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The issues with RITA and the entities under it-NZTR, RIU, TAB,JCA, etc, is not just the amount of money paid out in salaries, fees, bonuses ( how the fck can anybody get a bonus these days?) but the number of employees these organisations have. Now is the time to systematically analyse each organisation and be critical in saying 'does the industry gain anything from the employment of this person'?

If the answer is ' no' then goodbye was all she wrote?

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7 minutes ago, Kopia said:

The issues with RITA and the entities under it-NZTR, RIU, TAB,JCA, etc, is not just the amount of money paid out in salaries, fees, bonuses ( how the fck can anybody get a bonus these days?) but the number of employees these organisations have. Now is the time to systematically analyse each organisation and be critical in saying 'does the industry gain anything from the employment of this person'?

If the answer is ' no' then goodbye was all she wrote?

Never going to happen , they've never got a handle on issues facing the industry pre Covid so no hope now . 

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Tabcorp announces job cuts to stock exchange

Tabcorp announces job cuts to stock exchange
 
Racenet
 

The COVID-19 outbreak has begun to bite at Tabcorp with the wagering giant announcing the standing down of more than 700 employees until the end of the financial year.

Tabcorp provided a statement to the Australian stock exchange advising of the job cuts, which it says is a measure to protect jobs long term.

Tabcorp is also exploring whether it is eligible for Federal Government assistance under the Job Keeper Wage Subsidy initiative.

The organisation’s remaining employees will take at least one day of leave a week while Tabcorp chief executive David Attenborough will take a 20 percent pay cut until June 30.

Tabcorp’s chairman and non-executive directors have taken a 10 percent reduction in fees while the business has shed 160 technology contractors.

The company has suspended collection of fees owed by pubs and clubs for Sky Racing, TAB and Keno contracts among other measures.

Tabcorp has also moved to shore up cashflow by delaying payment of some payroll, Keno and lotteries taxes relating to the next six months, which amount to about $40 million per month.

“This continues to be a very challenging time for our people, businesses, partners and the community,” Attenborough said in a statement.

“We are committed to working proactively and collaboratively with all our stakeholders so that we can collectively emerge from the COVID-19 period as strongly as possible.”

Tabcorp shares were trading at $3.83 on March 1 before dropping to $2.18 on March 23.

However, the Tabcorp share price has improved in recent days to close on Tuesday at $2.77.

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17 hours ago, nomates said:

Never going to happen , they've never got a handle on issues facing the industry pre Covid so no hope now . 

Pre Covid the racing industry in NZ was extremely ill, however there was a sliver of light in that racing was continuing and 'some' income was being generated via the TAB, however piss poor the racing was....since the Dictator imposed a lock down and racing ceased, that hope of income is almost non-existant. Racing here in NSW is on a knife edge, some trainers have their own testing regimes for the virus..one positive and its gone. Then the NZ TAB is defunct-no sport, no racing to speak of..and if this lock down in NZ is extended-which is almost certain-NZ racing will be 'bankrupt' in that there are no backstops, banks are owed millions and the debt is spiralling out of control. If RITA was a publicly listed company, the sharemarket would have been brutal news for anyone with shares i t. Who do we think will bail it out?

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12 minutes ago, Kopia said:

Pre Covid the racing industry in NZ was extremely ill, however there was a sliver of light in that racing was continuing and 'some' income was being generated via the TAB, however piss poor the racing was....since the Dictator imposed a lock down and racing ceased, that hope of income is almost non-existant. Racing here in NSW is on a knife edge, some trainers have their own testing regimes for the virus..one positive and its gone. Then the NZ TAB is defunct-no sport, no racing to speak of..and if this lock down in NZ is extended-which is almost certain-NZ racing will be 'bankrupt' in that there are no backstops, banks are owed millions and the debt is spiralling out of control. If RITA was a publicly listed company, the sharemarket would have been brutal news for anyone with shares i t. Who do we think will bail it out?

Very smart and succinct post Kopia. Im sure RITA will be looking at all options including loans and /or potential capital raising just as business's are doing IF they can find a lender at reasonable terms.

 

Greg

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3 hours ago, Kopia said:

Pre Covid the racing industry in NZ was extremely ill, however there was a sliver of light in that racing was continuing and 'some' income was being generated via the TAB, however piss poor the racing was....since the Dictator imposed a lock down and racing ceased, that hope of income is almost non-existant. Racing here in NSW is on a knife edge, some trainers have their own testing regimes for the virus..one positive and its gone. Then the NZ TAB is defunct-no sport, no racing to speak of..and if this lock down in NZ is extended-which is almost certain-NZ racing will be 'bankrupt' in that there are no backstops, banks are owed millions and the debt is spiralling out of control. If RITA was a publicly listed company, the sharemarket would have been brutal news for anyone with shares i t. Who do we think will bail it out?

I have been involved in the NZ racing and breeding in a hands on capacity for nearly 40 years . Been employed on studs , stables , trained for myself and bred some horses . Seen some great racing and got to handle some great racehorses and stallions and broodmares .

But myself and others i know who are held in much higher esteem than myself in the game see no sliver of light , gallops has been driven to the precipice with no real indication those steering have any clues quite how to stop the rot . 

While 'some' income may have been generated it was never going to be sufficient to start righting racing , it probably wasn't even enough to hold our present position, when you consider debt incurred just to hold our current position . Especially when absolutely 'NOTHING' was being done to reduce overheads . Now that Covid is here the one saving grace could have been Rita/NZTR slashing running costs at head office level but the silence has been absolutely deafening . This is complete disgrace , Saundry has shown himself to be as useless as any of his predecessors , this man has been in the position for 2 years but in that time failed to impliment 1 , feckin 1, initiative that has improved or bettered NZ gallops . They were all relying on the Messara report to save the day , which IMO is never the saviour they they think it is going to be , that remains to be seen and believe it or not i hope i'm wrong about that .

Blaming any politician or party for accelerating our demise during this Covid issue is a bit rough , no fan of any politicians but we have created our own shitfest . The damage was done before this current situation .

I and many others have been calling for slashing of overheads at all head offices involved in racing for years now but they all seem devoid of hearing . Why is that the big question that never seems to get answered . John Allan thought he was successful when he put a ceiling on costs . Woohoo . 

Perhaps with no choice now is the right time to clear the decks and rebuild from bottom with industry participants having more say in what shape and direction their industry takes . There will be plenty of self interested people out there who wont want any part of that , they are the ones riding the gravy train and happy to ride it till the end .

I personally believe that until there is a complete overhaul of administration of NZ racing nothing changes . Just opinion .

I applaud all the industry participants who will be there ready to go when racing gets going again because they know it's going to be rough but they're still fronting up , i wish them all good luck .

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Yes I agree Nomates. The administration of Nz racing is, and has been for some time, defunct. When Peters assumed the role of queenmaker at the last election he was full of promises. Remember the statement..'I know a dead horse when I see one'? So whats taken place since? He's replaced some dead horses with some more very, very ill horses in the shape of RITA. The old boys club struck again, can anyone tell us what Peter Vela is doing on RITA? McKenzie seems to be the only one with any sense, and thats saying something. Peters did the old politicians trick of setting up committees, enquiries etc..and as a result he has been caught very short handed now. In fact he's neutered because of this virus. I bet a lot of us are totally sick of hearing ' it's going to get better' from these twats, because it aint. 

Now the COL has a huge problem looming financially. As a result of arderns dictatorial and arrogant actions the country is going to be in a huge mess when the impact of her stupidity hits. Thousands and thousands of people are losing their jobs...many businesses are going to pull up stumps forever. And worse. there will be many mortgagee sales because in spite of saying 'we're here to help you' banks are not going to wait forever for mortgage payments. Remember ' lets do this'?? So what is she going to do when thousands of people realise how fucked they are financially? How much more borrowed money can labour hand out to try and keep in govt?

The end result of this is..the racing industry will be at the end of any list when it comes to hand-outs etc...and unfortunately, so they should be. 

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1 hour ago, Kopia said:

Yes I agree Nomates. The administration of Nz racing is, and has been for some time, defunct. When Peters assumed the role of queenmaker at the last election he was full of promises. Remember the statement..'I know a dead horse when I see one'? So whats taken place since? He's replaced some dead horses with some more very, very ill horses in the shape of RITA. The old boys club struck again, can anyone tell us what Peter Vela is doing on RITA? McKenzie seems to be the only one with any sense, and thats saying something. Peters did the old politicians trick of setting up committees, enquiries etc..and as a result he has been caught very short handed now. In fact he's neutered because of this virus. I bet a lot of us are totally sick of hearing ' it's going to get better' from these twats, because it aint. 

Now the COL has a huge problem looming financially. As a result of arderns dictatorial and arrogant actions the country is going to be in a huge mess when the impact of her stupidity hits. Thousands and thousands of people are losing their jobs...many businesses are going to pull up stumps forever. And worse. there will be many mortgagee sales because in spite of saying 'we're here to help you' banks are not going to wait forever for mortgage payments. Remember ' lets do this'?? So what is she going to do when thousands of people realise how fucked they are financially? How much more borrowed money can labour hand out to try and keep in govt?

The end result of this is..the racing industry will be at the end of any list when it comes to hand-outs etc...and unfortunately, so they should be. 

I get what your saying about the economic situation but if your really suggesting that Bridges and his sidekick Collins were going to do this situation any better your kidding . I am not saying this because of any party allegiance , but i am grateful it's Adern and not Bridges at the helm during the Covid issue . Under Bridges 'thousands and thousands ' may not have lost their jobs but their lives instead , as Bridges focused on the economy at the expense of the health of the working class . Haven't really heard him say what he would have done different , maybe because he doesn't have any clues . Sounds earily like another industry being discussed on here .

Would be interesting to hear what you think he might have done better that saved lives as well as kept the economy stable .

Not looking for an argument i would be genuinely interested to hear other solutions . In all the discussions i've had with people here and in Britain , and they are suffering greatly in both departments , nobody has been able to pinpoint anything substantial that could be done differently , everybody has agreed it was one at the expense of the other . Just came down to your priorities . I know where mine lie . 

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I suggest you read what David Seymour of the Act Party, and Bridges have said about what could have taken place. There is and was no need to completely shut down a large number of businesses. NZ has been lucky in some respects because of our geographical situation in the World. Plus are relatively small population. It may become clearer in time but countries like Spain, Italy, France,UK  and now USA have been hardest hit. There will be a common denominator. Getting back to NZ ardern seems extremely reluctant to take advice from any quarter. NZ did not need a lock down. Its interesting that ardern starts a lot of her 'broadcasts' with the word 'I' and not 'We'. Thats where the difference between her and Bridges, Seymour, Judith Collins etc is. I make no apologies for not being a socialist, idealist, call it what you like.

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31 minutes ago, Kopia said:

I suggest you read what David Seymour of the Act Party, and Bridges have said about what could have taken place. There is and was no need to completely shut down a large number of businesses. NZ has been lucky in some respects because of our geographical situation in the World. Plus are relatively small population. It may become clearer in time but countries like Spain, Italy, France,UK  and now USA have been hardest hit. There will be a common denominator. Getting back to NZ ardern seems extremely reluctant to take advice from any quarter. NZ did not need a lock down. Its interesting that ardern starts a lot of her 'broadcasts' with the word 'I' and not 'We'. Thats where the difference between her and Bridges, Seymour, Judith Collins etc is. I make no apologies for not being a socialist, idealist, call it what you like.

I guess we'll never know but i for one have not seen nor heard anything from any of the above names that has given me any confidence that what they have suggested would have made a difference without compromising the health and wellbeing of many people , but happy agree to disagree . Politicians aren't worth getting in a stitch about .

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8 hours ago, Kopia said:

I suggest you read what David Seymour of the Act Party, and Bridges have said about what could have taken place. There is and was no need to completely shut down a large number of businesses. NZ has been lucky in some respects because of our geographical situation in the World. Plus are relatively small population. It may become clearer in time but countries like Spain, Italy, France,UK  and now USA have been hardest hit. There will be a common denominator. Getting back to NZ ardern seems extremely reluctant to take advice from any quarter. NZ did not need a lock down. Its interesting that ardern starts a lot of her 'broadcasts' with the word 'I' and not 'We'. Thats where the difference between her and Bridges, Seymour, Judith Collins etc is. I make no apologies for not being a socialist, idealist, call it what you like.

Agree here, for what it's worth.  Our PM is an admirable communicator,   but slack - read nonexistent  - border controls and very low testing numbers have allowed the spread of covid-19 far more readily than should have happened.   I agree lockdown has and will cause economic pain for years, however I dont think there was any choice.

But what an unenviable place to be, whoever's turn it was.

Agree also,  despite what many are thinking will happen,  that racing should ( rightfully) be at the end of the queue for money.   They've been on the tit for years and show no comprehension just how well they've been treated.

Good discussion. 

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On 8/04/2020 at 2:46 PM, Kopia said:

The issues with RITA and the entities under it-NZTR, RIU, TAB,JCA, etc, is not just the amount of money paid out in salaries, fees, bonuses ( how the fck can anybody get a bonus these days?) but the number of employees these organisations have. Now is the time to systematically analyse each organisation and be critical in saying 'does the industry gain anything from the employment of this person'?

If the answer is ' no' then goodbye was all she wrote?

As I said, its the number of employees that has to be reduced as much as the dollars paid. According to a post here, RITA has claimed the wage subsidy for....wait for it...

595 employees!!   Wouldn't you like to see a listing of what all of these people do? No doubt many are necessary...but this many?

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9 minutes ago, Kopia said:

As I said, its the number of employees that has to be reduced as much as the dollars paid. According to a post here, RITA has claimed the wage subsidy for....wait for it...

595 employees!!   Wouldn't you like to see a listing of what all of these people do? No doubt many are necessary...but this many?

Wouldn’t some of them be in the TAB Agencies.    100 agencies 3 employees each. There’s 300 perhaps 

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