Labor’s agitated racing spokesperson, David O’Byrne has conveniently forgotten a key element of his own Party’s racing policy in a desperate attempt to garner support of the racing industry.
Mr O’Byrne, when asking questions about the Point of Consumption Tax (POCT) in the Tasracing Government Business Enterprises hearing today, seemed blissfully unaware of the details of Labor’s publicly announced position.
In April, Mr O’Byrne’s Labor predecessor in the racing portfolio, Scott Bacon, said Labor would introduce the tax to prop up the Budget and not fund the racing industry.
“Labor will introduce this legislation to help improve the state’s coffers”, Mr Bacon told the Mercury on 17 April 2019.
But Mr O’Byrne failed to mention in the hearing today that Labor would keep all of the money to prop up their budget if they were ever to get into Government.
How can Tasmanians trust Mr O’Byrne to be their Treasurer when he forgets his own tax policy?
It also seems he forgot he was regurgitating the same questions on the POCT he repeatedly asked of the Treasurer during the debate in Parliament only a few weeks ago.
In contrast, the Hodgman majority Liberal Government’s position has been consistent and clear, and as I repeated again today, we will continue to work closely with the local racing industry to ensure that the net benefits are appropriately shared between Government and the industry.
We are strong supporters of the $103 million racing industry and its many thousands of participants.
Today’s performance by Mr O’Byrne shows again that he and the Labor Party cannot be trusted.