Matthew Sandblom

@RandBusiness A lousy dollar extra an hour above already low rates. Yeah a real hero. Pathetic!

Fun hiring strategy I heard about: Guy runs runs a manufacturing business in a small midwest town. Hiring out there is brutal even for menial roles. So instead of posting a job on indeed and hoping he finds a good resume, he poaches employees from Walmart. Literally goes there in person, looks around for the hardest working/diligent person. Someone actually working, not on their phone, not lethargic. Someone who generally looks focused and quick when they're stocking shelves for example. Then he'll go sit down at McDonald's, does the same thing. Then he walks up to them: "I own a manufacturing plant down the road. I'll pay you a dollar extra an hour. Here's my card, call me if you're interested." He's hired a dozen or so people doing this. It's kind of genius but I'd be pissed if I owned that McDonalds and someone was constantly stealing my best employees.

@RacenetTweets There are two many lead up WFA races that should be group 2 races. Especially Melbourne in the spring. And why does Moonee Valley have 3 group 1 WFA sprints?

If you had all the power, what would you do...? 🤔

@TTARacing Have you actually bred horses? Have you seen the costs involved. What about the 60% of horses that don’t even make it to a sale. The horses with a minor x ray issue that sells for less than service fee. You have zero idea of what you are talking about.

Lots of discussion today re Henry Field's idea about having an externally managed sovereign fund to protect our long term future. I know this wont be popular with many of my peers but I believe we all have a part to play so suggest a breeders levy on a sliding scale.

🇫🇷Haras De Fresnay-Le-Buffard Prix De Lisieux @fgdeauville Deauville - Inédites - Pouliches - 2 ans - 1200m - 10 Pts - 45 700 € 🏆Primetime Emmy (f2) 🏇Mickael Barzalona @mickaelbarzalon 📖(Extreme Choice (Aus) @NewgateFarm - Princess Emmy (Nz) par King's Chapel (Aus)) 🕶️Francis-Henri Graffard @GraffardRacing 🎩Hollymount Stud France Sc 🐎Kingstar Farm @KingstarFarm

Daughter of Extreme Choice showed her rivals a clean pair of heels in France 🐎 💨

Australian bred to NH time Extreme Choice filly wins impressively first time out at Deauville. Kingstar farm know how to breed good ones by this freak stallion ⁦@TTRAusNZ⁩

This is brilliant. It's over 4 minutes, but it's gold.

Proper colt this for @TrilogyRacing1 @SnowdenRacing1 For your interest, dam sires of Stay Inside 4️⃣ first crop stakes winners: I AM INVINCIBLE NICCONI PIERRO STREET BOSS

@MichaelWestBiz I find I have to change suppliers every 6 months to avoid getting ripped off. The retailers exploit complicated plans that are hard to compare. Imagine how much energy these companies put into to finding ways to confuse and milk their customers.

It's 'loyalty tax' time. Wholesale electricity prices have dropped (DMO) but providers are stuffing customers w 15% bill hikes. Feedback welcome for a story. Providers have to give best offer by law

A 3.9L victory on debut that immediately rocketed him to outright Golden Slipper favouritism🚀 @mcacajamez @cwallerracing WODETON⚜️, The Highest Rated 2YO Of His Generation. New For 2026🚀 #GoldenSlipperSpeed

🚨New 2YO DEBUT for WILD RULER⚔️🚨 RELINQUISING breaks her maiden in race 2 at @SwanHillRaces for the @shanenicholsrac team 👏 This filly is a @mmsnippets graduate who was bred & sold by @KingstarFarm ⭐️ #ItsPossible #WildForWildRuler

Group 1 quinella for the Newgate team

Racing NSW Has Forgotten Its Job And The Industry Should Be Furious Racing New South Wales desperately needs to be reminded that it is supposed to regulate the racing industry, not slowly turn itself into a commercial superpower operating inside it. The reported move to purchase Crown Lodge is exactly the type of arrogant overreach that should have every owner, trainer and participant asking what the hell Racing NSW actually thinks its role is anymore. A regulator is not supposed to become a rent competitor. Full stop. The governing body of racing should not be buying elite training infrastructure and inserting itself directly into the commercial leasing market while simultaneously controlling licensing, funding, policy, integrity and the entire direction of the sport. That is not healthy governance. That is institutional overreach. And the silence around it is staggering. This is how power structures become completely warped. The regulator starts acting like a corporate empire builder instead of an independent governing authority and suddenly the people at the top control everything from the rules of the game to the commercial real estate underneath it. How is that remotely acceptable? Participants are expected to trust a body that now potentially controls the rules, the money, the approvals and the facilities themselves. That should terrify every single person in this industry who still believes in independence and fair governance. Because once Racing NSW becomes landlord to major stables, the conflict questions become unavoidable. Who gets the prime access? Who gets the favourable deals? Who gets looked after? Who gets squeezed out? Who challenges the regulator when the regulator itself is financially embedded in the marketplace? This is exactly why governing bodies are supposed to keep clear separation between regulation and commercial market participation. But Racing NSW continues operating like an organisation that believes there are no limits to its reach anymore. Meanwhile smaller participants are suffocating. Regional racing fights for scraps. Participants battle rising costs. Ownership becomes harder to sustain. The middle layer of the industry keeps getting hollowed out. Yet somehow there always seems to be money available when it involves consolidating more influence and more control at the top end of town. That is the part people are sick of. The industry is tired of watching power centralise while being told it is all supposedly for the greater good. No. The job of Racing NSW is to govern the industry fairly, independently and transparently. Its role is not to become a commercial landlord sitting inside the same marketplace it regulates. Because once a regulator starts behaving like a market participant, trust collapses. And quite frankly, Racing NSW is starting to look less like an independent governing body and more like an organisation that believes it owns the entire ecosystem. It doesn’t. The industry belongs to the participants who fund it, work in it and keep it alive every single day. Not the administrators who seem increasingly addicted to accumulating power.

@Stewie8t @cjoye Obviously you buy a bigger and better house. Can you imagine how much more expensive homes in the Sydney eastern suburbs will become. That has already driven such high prices in these areas already

The chart below shows the effective capital gains tax rate facing a business owner who invests $250,000 upfront, holds for 10 years, and then exits at different valuations. The result is striking: under Labor’s proposed CGT changes, Australian founders and investors would face an effective tax rate of up to 46% — roughly double the burden faced in most comparable markets, including the US, UK, Canada, Germany, Japan and New Zealand. And this is not just a founder problem. The same logic applies across all small, medium and large businesses, and any asset, including listed equities, property, private equity, venture capital and crypto. If these changes proceed, Australia will become one of the least attractive places in the developed world to build, invest, take risk and realise gains. The one major asset still sitting outside this tax net is the owner-occupied home, which remains CGT-exempt. That creates a powerful distortion. If investment properties, businesses, shares, commercial property and other assets are hit with materially higher effective CGT rates, capital will rationally look for shelter in the family home. The likely result: less capital for startups and productive enterprise, lower productivity, more pressure on rents as investors retreat from housing, higher inflation and interest rates, weaker demand for risk assets, and even more money being recycled into owner-occupied property — the last great tax haven in Australia. In short: this is not just a profound increase in the tax burden, with zero consultation in the name of giving imprudent politicians more money to waste. It is a major repricing of risk-taking in Australia. It is not reform: it is highly regressive, as it seeks to punish entrepreneurial success, which is the key driver of long-term jobs, incomes, growth and prosperity. It does not boost productivity: it destroys it by actively discouraging innovation and business creation. It will not lower the cost of living: it will lift it by boosting rents and making us much more inefficient. It will not reduce interest rates: alongside rampant and reckless government spending and record migration, it will pressure the RBA to raise our mortgage repayments. What is perhaps most shocking is that only 12 months ago this government was elected on the basis promising to never make these changes...

@cjoye You’ve summed it up perfectly. As an entrepreneur myself it already annoyed me how simple and risk free putting more money into a better home is compared to investing in a business with plenty of risks and stress. Now they’ve made that comparison much worse. Why bother?

@JEChalmers To me it seems like adding a lot of complexity and upsetting a lot of people’s plans for very modest amounts of extra revenue. $8b over 4 years is a rounding error compared to spending on NDIS. The accountants will be happy as this creates massive amounts of new work for them

This is the most important and ambitious Budget in decades. Important because the world is throwing a lot at us – and this Budget is about helping Australia deal with these challenges. And ambitious because we have so much going for us – and this Budget is about Australia seizing those opportunities. This Budget is ambitious in the face of adversity. It’s a responsible Budget, and a reforming Budget, which builds resilience and bolsters our economy. There is more cost of living relief, more Medicare and more aged care, and more housing. It makes the tax system fairer and stronger for workers, businesses, first home buyers and future generations – Responding to the pressures of the here-and-now while embracing our intergenerational responsibilities. We are responding to the biggest oil shock in history with a comprehensive $14.8 billion plan to secure more fuel, strengthen our supply chains, build resilience, and take the sting out of prices. Immediate relief from the fuel crisis is coupled with lasting and responsible cost of living measures. Tonight, we are proud to be delivering another round of ongoing tax cuts for Australian workers. We will put more money into the pockets of 13.3 million workers with a new $250 Working Australians Tax Offset. It will begin from the second half of 2027 and be paid each year, ongoing and automatically in your tax return just like the instant deduction we’re rolling out as well. The $6.4 billion tax offset is the biggest cost of living measure in this Budget – But it’s not all we’re doing to support families under pressure. As a Labor government, we will always invest in Medicare, cheaper medicines and public health so Australians get the care they need, when they need it. Australia’s longstanding housing shortage is making homes unaffordable. This challenge hits young workers and families hard and we’re addressing it from every responsible angle. The reforms in this Budget will lift our total investment in housing to a record $47 billion. We’re levelling the playing field for first home buyers with 5 per cent deposits and tax reform to help more young Australians into their own home. These housing reforms go to the core of our Budget strategy. Dealing with the very real pressures on people right now – While taking responsibility for the challenges facing the next generations. The challenges coming at us, the opportunities ahead of us and the better future that Australians deserve, will not wait for a time when all is quiet in the world. That’s why this Budget invests in resilience and reform, to grow our economy the right way and lift living standards over time. This productivity package will help us attract and absorb more investment, make it easier and quicker to build, and slash compliance costs. This Budget includes the most significant tax reform package in more than a quarter of a century. This is about tax relief and tax reform to make our economy work for more Australians, businesses and future generations. We’re delivering a fairer tax system for workers, first home buyers and young people. We’re building a better tax system for businesses, with over $3.5 billion in new measures that lower taxes, to encourage investment and innovation. Our tax reforms will help workers, create a fairer housing market, and drive more productive investment across our economy. Debt is lower and the budget position is stronger in every year of the medium term because of our savings. The medium-term budget position is much stronger and more sustainable as a consequence, creating more room for future tax relief. Against a backdrop of global uncertainty, this Budget invests in Australia’s resilience, economic sovereignty and national security. At a time when Australians are under pressure, this Budget delivers more help with the cost of living and new tax cuts for workers. And in an era where people feel like the system no longer works for them, this Budget doesn’t just acknowledge that – it acts on it. No other budget in the 2000s has set out this much responsible Budget repair and this much economic reform. These are difficult decisions to ensure a stronger bottom line every year, to give us greater insurance in uncertain times. At the same time as we build a more resilient, productive and competitive economy. This is a strategy which helps shield people from the harshest consequences of a global oil crisis – Stabilises our economy and our Budget at a time of extreme uncertainty and volatility in the world – And strengthens Australia for the next shock. Tonight, we choose the hard road of reform, not the path of least resistance. By responding to the pressures Australians confront today. And fulfilling our obligations and responsibilities to the generations to come.

@Mon4Kooyong Fine for passive property investment but if you do the same for active business investment as well you make just investing in your primary residence much more attractive. Why take the risk and employ people when you can just buy a bigger house?

I recently surveyed the Kooyong community regarding property tax incentives; the results were conclusive. 73% of the over 900 respondents backed changes to the capital gains tax discount; even more (85%) endorsed changes to negative gearing. Support for limiting the capital gains tax discount was three times stronger than keeping it as it is. The strongest concerns within our community were intergenerational inequity, housing affordability, and housing supply. These are the challenges the government must address in tomorrow's Budget. afr.com/property/resid…

@TMFScottP This whole argument falls over when you still have one huge asset class, your own home, that is not taxed at all. Very hard for many business ideas to compete with this. So once you’ve made a bit of money don’t reinvest in businesses. Just buy a better house

Not for nothing, but when people say a CGT change would hit founders and growth investors, they're not wrong. But implicit in that argument is that those groups will be making a motza in the first place. That's all the incentive they will need. Or, as Buffett wrote in the NYT:

@cjoye This is exactly right. Why would you invest in a risky new venture when if you succeed the govt takes half the money when you can instead buy the most expensive house you can afford and watch it rise in value tax free! Imagine what eastern suburbs prices will be like.

The single biggest winner from the budget: the tax-free owner-occupied home, which is where people will put their money. After the budget doubles the capital gains tax on productive businesses/assets from circa 23.5% to 46-47%, investors will understandably pull money from businesses, shares, commercial property and rental housing and plough it into their tax-free owner-occupied home. It's a great way to push up the prices of these houses. On the other hand, cutting negative gearing while also doubling CGT makes investing in rental properties extremely unattractive. It hammers the capital gain upside on any asset: shares, commercial property, the small or medium sized business you built, venture capital and private equity. It will give Australia the most unattractive capital gains tax in the WORLD (see table below)! So the government's policies will (1) push up owner-occupied house prices, (2) push up rents, and (3) reduce the capital available for investing in any small, medium or large sized business that is driving employment, innovation, growth and productivity/prosperity. Investors will go to other countries where they pay half the capital gains tax, or less. Since these pollies have never worked a day of their lives in the private sector, it is no surprise that when they decide to completely and unilaterally rewrite the entire tax system for all investors and businesses -- after promising before the last election more than 50 times NOT to change the capital gains tax and negative gearing rules -- that they would blow the entire Aussie economy up... Your best bet will be to buy a house, live in it, and hope they keep dropping 500,000 new people into the country every year to pump-up prices...