Parkz News Dreamworld pleads guilty over Thunder River Rapids accident

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

That would have been my same reply. It's absolute gold that Rich liked this post though!

On 31/07/2020 at 4:26 PM, AheadMatthewawsome said:

It was a joke about that "silly idea that teenagers burnt the house down out of revenge for people showering naked"! It was never meant to be serious.

A joke eh?

On 29/07/2020 at 12:09 PM, AheadMatthewawsome said:

I have never been to Dreamworld before, But I am really worried that Dreamworld will go just like what Wonderland did. If you have a look in the past 5 years, most of Gold Rush Country is gone, there were 2 severe accidents 5 months apart of each other, there are security problems when six kids burnt down the Big Brother House (maybe because of the naked showers and other weird stuff they do), they have closed down almost all the log flumes there, all of the Play School Art Room has been removed from the website and is closed, and Wipeout and Tower Of Terror II are gone. It is quite clear for the past 5 years that Ardent Leisure has neglected the park, causing incidents and deaths from this. Dreamworld is now a shell of itself from only 10 years ago. And this is because of the neglect. It is time for somebody who is more competent to take over the parks operation. Or Dreamworld will just become another Wonderland.

That's your original post. There is no hint of anything that might suggest you were joking. Your statement is serious. There is nothing 'silly' about it - You even went on to explain the draconian behavior of your parents to explain it in later posts.

"Naw, guys, c'mon, it was just a joke" isn't going to wash buddy. Own your comments.

[Xexon]

Does anyone seriously think dreamworld will reopen? I am having my doubts

[Flynn_Smith]

1 minute ago, Xexon said:

Does anyone seriously think dreamworld will reopen? I am having my doubts

All signs point to yes. Maintenance is continuing in the park, and as someone mentioned a few days ago in a different thread, staff have been given a tentative opening date of September 18th. 

 

[westical]

10 hours ago, Xexon said:

Does anyone seriously think dreamworld will reopen? I am having my doubts

I think they're holding out for warmer weather when both parks will be an attractive proposition to the general public.

[rappa]

11 hours ago, Flynn_Smith said:

All signs point to yes. Maintenance is continuing in the park, and as someone mentioned a few days ago in a different thread, staff have been given a tentative opening date of September 18th. 

 

Just to be clear they haven’t given a tentative opening of the 18th. They’ve just stated they would be closed until at least the 17th. 

[Flynn_Smith]

1 hour ago, rappa said:

Just to be clear they haven’t given a tentative opening of the 18th. They’ve just stated they would be closed until at least the 17th. 

I was referring to this post by @Brad2912.

[jjuttp]

1 hour ago, Flynn_Smith said:

I was referring to this post by @Brad2912.

Then someone posted the actual wording of the thread which is what rappa is referring to.

[Flynn_Smith]

7 minutes ago, jjuttp said:

Then someone posted the actual wording of the thread which is what rappa is referring to.

Must have missed it. Cheers 👍

Edited August 6, 2020 by Flynn_Smith

[rappa]

It’s all good Ardent, we’ll just give you 70million so you can pay that little fine we’ve issued you. 
cheers

Qld Government

 

 

Pretty annoyed our public money is being given to those who continue to demonstrate their incompetence over and over again.  

[red dragin]

VRTP also received funds, a government can't favour one part of the industry over another.

[rappa]

How about a clause “are you currently subject to a court imposed judgement against you?”

 

like is it not ridiculous the government is giving them money to pay a fine that’s meant to be punishment?

also given their release states they couldn’t afford to open without the funding can we drop the crap that they weren’t opening for safety reasons now?

[Retardent]

15 minutes ago, red dragin said:

can't favour one part of the industry over another.

Yep. So you prop up the company that has not turned a profit a profit in half a decade precisely because they funnelled all profits for the decade prior into overseas investments instead of maintaining and growing their Australian operations.

[red dragin]

1 minute ago, Retardent said:

Yep. So you prop up the company that has not turned a profit a profit in half a decade precisely because they funnelled all profits for the decade prior into overseas investments instead of maintaining and growing their Australian operations.

VRTP is about to sell to a foreign investment company, and they are getting propped up just like Ardent. All future profits are about to go overseas.

Same difference.

[rappa]

ummm BGH Capital is an Australian and New Zealand-focused private equity firm established in 2017 by Robin Bishop, Ben Gray and Simon Harle.

Yeah see Village are going to use the money to continue their planned capital investment which brings construction and development jobs to Queensland, they also have the doors open which creates more jobs. 
 

Ardent plan to use the money to open the gate and cover the losses they have had from their past poor decisions. So none of that money benefits anything. Any jobs they make by being open is offset by all the people they have sacked. 

Edited August 7, 2020 by rappa

[webslave]

1 hour ago, rappa said:

How about a clause “are you currently subject to a court imposed judgement against you?”

like is it not ridiculous the government is giving them money to pay a fine that’s meant to be punishment?

also given their release states they couldn’t afford to open without the funding can we drop the crap that they weren’t opening for safety reasons now?

Much as this seems to be your own personal crusade now (we get it), the reality is you can mount that same argument no matter what income the park gets.  It's a closed system, and the fine, frankly, is irrelevant in the whole sad tale.

[Guest 239]

1 hour ago, rappa said:

ummm BGH Capital is an Australian and New Zealand-focused private equity firm established in 2017 by Robin Bishop, Ben Gray and Simon Harle.

Yeah see Village are going to use the money to continue their planned capital investment which brings construction and development jobs to Queensland, they also have the doors open which creates more jobs. 
 

Ardent plan to use the money to open the gate and cover the losses they have had from their past poor decisions. So none of that money benefits anything. Any jobs they make by being open is offset by all the people they have sacked. 

If you kissed ass any harder you’d tear off skin. 

[red dragin]

Genuine questions, not stirring. I'm not a finance type person.

Did Macquarie Capital have anything to do with Macquarie Leisure (now Ardent)? As Robin Bishop was head of Macquarie Capital prior to BGH.

And what is a private equity firm? My impression is they buy something big, then split it into pieces then sell it for a greater profit.

[Guest 239]

13 minutes ago, red dragin said:

Genuine questions, not stirring. I'm not a finance type person.

Did Macquarie Capital have anything to do with Macquarie Leisure (now Ardent)? As Robin Bishop was head of Macquarie Capital prior to BGH.

And what is a private equity firm? My impression is they buy something big, then split it into pieces then sell it for a greater profit.

From what I know the ELI5 is that they take donuts for $2, pump them full of jelly and then sell them for $4 as jelly donuts. 

Edited August 7, 2020 by CaptainLazerGuns

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

38 minutes ago, red dragin said:

And what is a private equity firm? My impression is they buy something big, then split it into pieces then sell it for a greater profit.

The 'break it up and sell off the pieces' mentality isn't the status quo anymore. As @CaptainLazerGuns suggested above, its more a case of acquiring something that is liquid capital poor, leverage against the asset to obtain financing to improve the product, and then flip it for more than you bought it for.

There are pump-and-dump book shuffling, such as we saw with Dick Smith, where they over extended the value by some creative bookkeeping, but due to the public nature of that particular implosion, that method won't escape due diligence checks from buyers in the future.

Anyone claiming that Ardent received funds of $70 Million simply because they're potentially going to be fined $4.5 Million needs to go back to third grade mathematics.

[red dragin]

@AlexB thanks, knew you'd provide a good explanation. 

[rappa]

3 hours ago, AlexB said:

Anyone claiming that Ardent received funds of $70 Million simply because they're potentially going to be fined $4.5 Million needs to go back to third grade mathematics.

No one is saying they are getting 70 because they are fined 4.5. 
 

I’m saying it’s a friken joke they are handed government money when they are facing a 4.5million fine. 

[Jdude95]

Put in a clause that says none of the $70m can be used to pay any of the potential $4.5m fine 

[Levithian]

They are handed government money to keep about 1000 people employed, along with all those funds that filter down through the supply chain that keep probably hundreds of businesses turning over.

If you cant see its in the states best interest to keep a significant employer in business, paying their bills, paying for goods and services, money that ultimately flows back to the government, and instead focus on a miniscule maximum potential fine of 4.5 million; Youre either blind with rage or a complete moron. 

Edited August 8, 2020 by Levithian

[Pyro]

55 minutes ago, Levithian said:

They are handed government money to keep about 1000 people employed, along with all those funds that filter down through the supply chain that keep probably hundreds of businesses turning over.

If you cant see its in the states best interest to keep a significant employer in business, paying their bills, paying for goods and services, money that ultimately flows back to the government, and instead focus on a miniscule maximum potential fine of 4.5 million; Youre either blind with rage or a complete moron. 

Nail on the head! its not about Dreamworld or Village, its about long term Gold Coast tourism. The hotels rely so much on these major attractions to bring people in to the Gold Coast. Its about the economy and jobs. If you cant see that then i agree, you are a moron! 

[rappa]

1 hour ago, Levithian said:

They are handed government money to keep about 1000 people employed, along with all those funds that filter down through the supply chain that keep probably hundreds of businesses turning over.

If you cant see its in the states best interest to keep a significant employer in business, paying their bills, paying for goods and services, money that ultimately flows back to the government, and instead focus on a miniscule maximum potential fine of 4.5 million; Youre either blind with rage or a complete moron. 

IF they stay open generating those jobs and flow on. My point is they’ve demonstrated they couldn’t keep the place profitable before this so is flushing 70million more of public money at them really going to change that.

FWIW I think the place is of extreme value to the state and want to see it open and thriving. I just don’t see the present owners capable of that in any way.