{"id":808092,"date":"2026-07-18T11:24:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T11:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/808092\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T11:24:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T11:24:16","slug":"just-press-spend-source-of-income-has-all-the-bells-and-whistles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/808092\/","title":{"rendered":"Just press spend: Source of income has all the bells and whistles"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Labor\u2019s failure to honour its poker machine promises should surprise no one (\u201cLabor\u2019s pokie porkies: Punters pay the price for unfulfilled promises\u201d<\/a>, July 12). Governments have a fundamental conflict of interest. They condemn the social harm caused by poker machines while quietly relying on gambling losses as a form of voluntary taxation. As long as poker machines remain a lucrative source of revenue, meaningful reform will always take second place to protecting the Treasury\u2019s income. The same hypocrisy is evident in housing. Governments lament declining affordability while collecting billions from stamp duty, land tax and a host of other property taxes that rise as house prices increase. Why would they seriously tackle problems from which they are such major beneficiaries? John Kempler, Rose Bay<\/p>\n

\"PokerPoker machine numbers are a hard thing to keep down, it seems.Dallas Kilponen<\/p>\n

Why are NSW taxpayers subsidising clubs with gambling concessions of $1.2 billion a year? Even more ridiculous is the fact that hotels pay 50 per cent on gambling profits over $5 million while clubs pay no tax on profits up to $1 million and only 28.4 per cent on gambling profits over $20 million. It\u2019s not like these gambling dollars are free money. They come at the cost of divorces, suicides, food budgets, school fees and even utilities, not to mention mortgages. Larry Woldenberg, Forest Lodge<\/p>\n

Joyce thought bubble<\/p>\n

More gobbledygook from Barnaby Joyce and so-called policy moves by One Nation (\u201cOne Nation flags radical RBA plan to cut inflation\u201d<\/a>, July 12). Also interesting is that he is complaining about the tax on alcohol. Instead of writing a book trying to explain his party, he would serve all Australians better by writing policy. Peter Dutton went to the last election with a lot of missing \u201cpolicies\u201d and was judged accordingly. Ian Ferrier, Long Jetty<\/p>\n

\"ManMan of the match Romain Ntamack scores for France against the Wallabies in Brisbane last weekend.Getty ImagesWallabies\u2019 woes<\/p>\n

I told yers (\u201cFrance put Wallabies to the sword with a devastating second-half display\u201d<\/a>, July 12)! Check the numbers. Since the Wallabies have been sponsored by a major fossil fuel company, they have (almost) never won a game. Too conflicted? Hugh Barrett, Sanctuary Point<\/p>\n

Iain Payton\u2019s Sunday article picked up many Wallabies faults, but I wish he\u2019d mentioned two more. One, the idiotic way Australia\u2019s backs continually kicked high defensive balls from their own half, mostly for only 10 metres, thus giving the ball back to the French, and two, the ragged stand of poor tackling in the second half. The Wallabies won\u2019t beat anyone until these two faults are corrected. Stephen Wallace, Glebe<\/p>\n

\"CoreyCorey Tutt: \u201cI was explaining to some young Indigenous kids about scientific things of our people, and one of them said, \u2018That\u2019s deadly\u2019, so it went from there.\u201d Open-hearted science<\/p>\n

Thanks, Fitz, for a great good news story (\u201cAncient genius is professor\u2019s passion\u201d<\/a>, July 12). Corey Tutt is an inspiration to the whole country, but particularly a bringer of hope to Indigenous peoples. His sharing of the ancient scientific wisdom of our First Nations peoples, openly given to all, is the spirit of the Australia I know. No unrealistic monoculture or banning of flags \u2013 just an openness to sharing and justice. Geoff Nilon, Mascot<\/p>\n

I was inspired by Peter FitzSimons\u2019 interview with Corey Tutt, founder of DeadlyScience, \u201can educational charity \u2026 to teach children across Australia about Indigenous science\u201d. FitzSimons\u2019 interview will undoubtedly open eyes to the sophistication of Indigenous culture. Corey\u2019s grandfather taught him about Indigenous knowledge of country and culture, passed down by ancestors for millennia through storytelling. I knew our Indigenous peoples worked in harmony with the environment, but I hadn\u2019t heard of their genius fish traps, invention of bread, weather forecasting through twinkling stars, fish-hunting collaboration with orca whales and purpose-targeted boomerang designs, to mention just a few of Corey\u2019s revelations. He summed up Indigenous cultural practice with \u201cthey developed exactly what they needed for the environments in which they lived\u201d. DeadlyScience is a charity that opens the door to a number of career path opportunities for Indigenous students. I trust Corey\u2019s interview with Peter FitzSimons will generate donations to support his brilliant initiative. Corey hoped to make his grandfather proud. He succeeded. Gerardine Grace, Leura<\/p>\n

\"MournersMourners of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at his funeral this month.APLong-term strategy<\/p>\n

Trump is stuck looking for a Plan C (\u201cTrump no closer to Iran end game\u201d<\/a>, July 12). Iran has two plans. The short-term plan is Hormuz, but it also has a long-term plan. Trump will be gone in 2\u00bd years. Just outwait him and candidates for the next election will be queuing up to end the war and blame Trump for everything. Iran will probably be able to get back frozen assets, keep its enriched nuclear fuel and get compensated for damage. If a dictatorship thinks long term, it can easily beat a democracy. Neville Turbit, Russell Lea<\/p>\n

Bus bungling<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s article on bus driver salaries (\u201cBus drivers to cost government $200 million\u201d<\/a>, July 12) is another example of why the privatisation deal, concluded by the last state Coalition government, reeks of incompetence. Public money to fund private driver salaries, insufficient drivers, timetables that bear no resemblance to running time reality, contracts booby-trapped with cancellation landmines \u2013 the Coalition created an awful mess. Living in the inner west, I try to use buses a lot but give up when buses fail to show. I waited 40 minutes for a bus on a supposedly 10-minute frequency on Friday. It\u2019s not the first time and not even unusual any more. The sooner these abominable privatised arrangements are put to the sword, the better. Wayne Duncombe, Lilyfield<\/p>\n

To submit a letter to the Sydney Morning Herald, email letters@smh.com.au. Click here<\/a> for tips on how to submit letters.The Opinion newsletter is a weekly wrap of views that will challenge, champion and inform. Sign up here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":808093,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[64,63,99,164],"class_list":["post-808092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=808092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/808093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=808092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=808092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=808092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}