253 words - How the NSW government responded to Rosehill parliamentary inquiry recommendations

The NSW government has issued a brief response to the Rosehill Select Committee report, giving its support to two of the five recommendations of parliamentary inquiry.

*A meeting between NSW Premier Chris Minns and an Australian Turf Club executive became a centrepiece of the Rosehill Select Committee inquiry. (Photo by Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)*

The official response was published late on Thursday, as the deadline to reply was set to expire. It runs four pages but the aspect which deals with the five recommendations of the Select Committee is just 253 words. Extraordinarily, the word Rosehill was not one of them.

That is in reply to the Committee’s 145-page report handed down in December which came after four days of public hearings and more than 120 submissions. As well as the five recommendations, the Committee report also featured 10 key findings.

The findings weren’t addressed in the government’s response while of the five recommendations, two were passed back by the government to the Legislative Council.

Significantly, that included a recommendation that an inquiry be set up into the operations of Racing NSW, while it also deferred recommendation five, surrounding the Parliamentary Evidence Act.

The two recommendations it offered support for were regarding Ministerial Diary Disclosures and a review taking place into the Thoroughbred Racing Act.

Racing Minister David Harris, who has remained at arm’s length from the Rosehill inquiry, confirmed earlier this week that he was already pulling together the review of the Racing Act, and looking to find an independent person who could conduct that review.

The official government response to that recommendation was that it supported it in principle.

“The matters raised as part of the committee’s inquiry and report cover a broad range of issues relating to the Act. As part of its ongoing commitment to best practice in legislative review, the government considers there is merit in a review of the Thoroughbred Racing Act 1996,” it said.

The issue around Ministerial Diary Disclosures was brought into focus during the Rosehill inquiry over a meeting between Premier Chris Minns and former colleague and Australian Turf Club executive Steve McMahon in October 2023 which proved the genesis of the Rosehill idea.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption was asked but declined to investigate the circumstances of that meeting.

“The government is carefully considering recommendations made by the Independent Commission Against Corruption in the 2021 report, Investigation into the regulation of lobbying, access and influence in NSW, following an investigation known as ‘Operation Eclipse’, including recommendations regarding Ministerial diary disclosure,” the report response read.

“The government is considering options for extending diary disclosure obligations to the Shadow Ministerial spokespeople.”

Recommendation 4 dealt with horse welfare concerns and reviews of both the Thoroughbred Racing Act and the Prevention Of Cruelty To Animals Act.

It asked for such reviews to regard the animal welfare issues raised in the Committee report and the recommendations made in the 2021 report of the Thoroughbred Aftercare Welfare Working Group.”

However, while the Government noted the recommendation, it did not support it, saying many of the TAWWG report’s suggestions involved national considerations.

“Many of the recommendations put forward in the 2021 report relate to actions at a national level. The Government will continue to engage with industry and state and Australian governments to promote a nationally consistent approach to thoroughbred and horse welfare,” the response read.

“This includes advocating for national horse standards and guidelines, a review of the Land Transport of Livestock Standards relevant to horses, and a national horse register.”

Read the government’s response in full