MELBOURNE - Melbourne Cup winning trainer Sheila Laxon says an increase in ACC levies was a factor in her move to Australia.
Laxon, who trained Ethereal to win the Caulfield-Melbourne Cup double last year, yesterday arrived in Melbourne to train on a permanent basis.
The Waikato property at Cambridge where she previously
trained has been closed as a racing stable and is to be farmed.
The main reason for Laxon's move, announced a couple of months ago, is that she has established a relationship with Victorian trainer John Symons.
But she said yesterday that increased ACC levies played their part.
"It certainly didn't help matters," she remarked from her new base.
Laxon said she received a bill of more than $20,000 for levies for her staff of 10. A similar bill three years earlier had been 10 times less at $2000.
"I was only just breaking even for the last six months and when I got that bill ... I couldn't see how it was a viable proposition to keep going over there.
"I suppose you could say it was certainly the straw that broke the camel's back as far as carrying on the stables in New Zealand."
But Laxon admitted that her relationship with Symons meant she would probably not be training in New Zealand even if the ACC bill had been smaller.
"You couldn't say that I would," she said.
The matter has come to the attention of politicians.
National's Agriculture spokesman David Carter said the increased levies had helped tip the balance in Laxon making the move across the Tasman.
"This is yet another example of a high-profile business person saying enough's enough," Carter said.
"When is the Government going to learn that its anti-business stance is pushing our best offshore?"
- NZPA
