Stephen Mayne

So I guess at that level, they should say, we're throwing large licks of population growth at you.

We'll help you cope with the cost of that.

So maybe you can run an argument.

But the thing I most liked about the state budget was the $1.14 billion budget

Lottery license extension for the Lottery Corporation, ASX listed, so 8.30 yesterday morning on the Stock Exchange.

Lottery Corp says, hey, we've got a 40-year license extension for $1.15 billion.

No tender, no transparency, no public process.

No one knew this was coming.

But the state government's going into an election.

They needed a billion-dollar top-up to be able to claim a surplus, so we've given them... We're front-loading a 40-year licence payment, you know, in the election-year budget to make them look good.

And this means that gambling tax revenue in Victoria in 26-27 will be $4 billion, which also is a record.

So that's the other reason we're the world's biggest gamblers, Alan, because the states are so dependent on...

They've got no revenue options and gambling licence is one of the few things they can do.

So they issue them with gay abandon and we end up being the world's biggest gamblers just to prop up a lopsided federal system where one of the few things the states can do is gambling deals.

And when they're really desperate, they forward sell revenues and get $1.15 billion up front for 40 years, no tender.

I'm just being an old Liberal Party spin doctor here and an anti-gambling advocate.

They're hitting all my buttons yesterday with all these.

Anyway, but look, we are still the greatest country in the world, Alan.

I'm not moving to Queensland yet.

I mean, if you look at US earnings, US markets, AI boom, isn't there an argument that the energy intensity of the world economy is not what it was during the 1970s crises?