CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
In case you get your news from Australia’s commercial media networks who rely solely on the gambling advertising dollar to stay alive, then you might not be aware that the nation’s largest publicly traded casino operator has been temporarily suspended from the country’s stock exchange after failing to lodge its annual financial results.
Star Entertainment Group are now scrambling to negotiate over a billion dollars in tax relief from both the Queensland and New South Wales state governments.
While REX airlines and every other Australian business that has been smashed by the corporate monopolies are left to go broke or tread water, it seems that our nation’s biggest casino chain are expecting the government to bail them out because they overextended themselves by building a second venue in Brisbane.
The slight market competition presented by Barangaroo and the nation’s regional casinos like Alice Springs and Townsville appear to have been too much for Star – a corporation that’s entire business model is supposed to be based around the fool-proof notion of the ‘house always wins’.
On top of being delisted from the Australian Securities Exchange on Monday, the group also faces scrutiny over a series of scandals related to severe criminal activity and unethical conduct at its casinos.
But just like Qantas and NewsCorp before them – Star have enough political lobbyists to be able to demand that the government treats them to a bit of corporate socialism.
While this sense of corporate entitlement is expected, and even championed, in NSW by extremely generous state governments who will gladly shut down historic nightlife precincts and ignore police inquiries to protect the casino tycoons – the same can’t be said for Queensland.
Especially in an election year, with a Labor Premier who is up against a brutal smear campaign from both the right-wing media and the LNP opposition.
With nothing to lose, and no friends to be made, the Queensland Premier has today announced a plan that can save jobs and generate state revenue without handing over billions in tax payer dollars to these dumb fucks who ran a fool-proof business into the ground.
“Fuck it” said Premier Miles.
“We are gonna nationalise Queen’s Wharf.”
“If they’re broke. We’ll take it of their hands for them. If punters are gonna do their arse on the casino floors, then we may as well use that money to build roads”
“This isn’t a bail-out, this is a take-over”
“VOTE FOR ME IF YOU WANT TO SEE A QUEENSLAND STATE GOVERNMENT CASINO!”
