The WA government, under Mr. McGowan, confirms it will not privatise, restructure, sell, or make major changes to the Western Australian TAB in the next four years, reaffirming its commitment to keeping it state-owned.

AnsweredQoN 85Legislative Assembly
Asked
26 April 2005
Portfolio
Racing and Gaming

QuestionView source ↗

Is the government considering privatising, restructuring, selling or making any other major change to the Western Australian Totalisator Agency Board in the next four years? Mr M. McGOWAN

AnswerView source ↗

I am grateful to the member for South Perth for asking this question on the Western Australian Totalisator Agency Board. The answer is quite simply no, we will not be selling the Western Australian TAB. We made that quite clear when we put our racing program into operation in 2003 when we created Racing and Wagering Western Australia, which has been a tremendous success for the racing industry. All members in the house and everyone involved in the racing industry in Western Australia will know that Racing and Wagering Western Australia has been the best thing to happen to the racing industry in Western Australia for many decades. It has managed to bring the codes together, put them on a good financial footing and remove much of the disputation and conflict that existed within the codes and between clubs over many years. It will go from strength to strength and will further improve the racing industry over coming months. When we brought Racing and Wagering Western Australia into being, we made a commitment that the TAB would remain in state hands. It is the only TAB in Australia that is owned by a state. We intend to keep it that way. We think that it is working well, and we know that the industry agrees.
Mr M. McGOWAN replied: I am grateful to the member for South Perth for asking this question on the Western Australian Totalisator Agency Board. The answer is quite simply no, we will not be selling the Western Australian TAB. We made that quite clear when we put our racing program into operation in 2003 when we created Racing and Wagering Western Australia, which has been a tremendous success for the racing industry. All members in the house and everyone involved in the racing industry in Western Australia will know that Racing and Wagering Western Australia has been the best thing to happen to the racing industry in Western Australia for many decades. It has managed to bring the codes together, put them on a good financial footing and remove much of the disputation and conflict that existed within the codes and between clubs over many years. It will go from strength to strength and will further improve the racing industry over coming months. When we brought Racing and Wagering Western Australia into being, we made a commitment that the TAB would remain in state hands. It is the only TAB in Australia that is owned by a state. We intend to keep it that way. We think that it is working well, and we know that the industry agrees.
I am grateful to the member for South Perth for asking this question on the Western Australian Totalisator Agency Board. The answer is quite simply no, we will not be selling the Western Australian TAB. We made that quite clear when we put our racing program into operation in 2003 when we created Racing and Wagering Western Australia, which has been a tremendous success for the racing industry. All members in the house and everyone involved in the racing industry in Western Australia will know that Racing and Wagering Western Australia has been the best thing to happen to the racing industry in Western Australia for many decades. It has managed to bring the codes together, put them on a good financial footing and remove much of the disputation and conflict that existed within the codes and between clubs over many years. It will go from strength to strength and will further improve the racing industry over coming months. When we brought Racing and Wagering Western Australia into being, we made a commitment that the TAB would remain in state hands. It is the only TAB in Australia that is owned by a state. We intend to keep it that way. We think that it is working well, and we know that the industry agrees.

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