A tale of two PRAs – D-Day settles little in Victoria, NSW power battles

ANALYSIS: The ides of March may yet come for the Victorian and NSW racing industries despite significant moves to preserve the status quo in both states last week.

In Victoria, the RV board staved off a challenge from the Thoroughbred Racehorse Owners Association (TROA) to ditch five serving directors, in what was seen as a rebuff to the vocal calls for change over the past six months.

In the end, TROA only got three of the 24 votes needed to make that change, but the words of chairman Jonathan Munz after the meeting were hardly those of someone resigned to defeat. He pointed to the 15 abstentions, which meant that there were only 17 of 35 votes in active support of the current board.

Munz also indicated that TROA would be campaigning hard to get the people it thought were best for the board with the three directors to be replaced in the coming months. Significantly, Munz is also part of the selection committee panel helping Racing Minister Anthony Carbines choose future directors for the RV Board.

The campaign for change by TROA ahead of last week’s Special General Meeting has led to further tension with other member stakeholders, particularly those who supported the status quo and helped vote down the board change proposal.

Several are unhappy with how that campaign was conducted and the relationship with TROA has been even further soured by the circumstances. One stakeholder contacted by The Straight wants much more scrutiny on TROA’s representative nature, something which is unlikely to please Munz and his board.

Put simply, if there was any hope that February 28 would prove the dawn of a new era of cooperation within Victorian racing, that is lost. TROA still wants change and given other stakeholders are still unhappy with the Racing Victoria executive, we can expect further spotlight on the future of chief executive Andrew Jones.

That interim chairman Mike Hirst came out in support of Jones after the meeting won’t be of much consolation for the CEO considering Hirst has already confirmed he will be leaving the Board as of the end of May.

In the words of one stakeholder, the Racing Minister needs to “pull a six-foot-eight rabbit out of the hat” if he is to help resolve the current disquiet. That’s a not-so-subtle reference to Gillon McLachlan, the former AFL chief executive and the man linked to the chairman role which has been vacant since Brian Kruger upped sticks last July.

By all reports, McLachlan hasn’t submitted his expression of interest in joining the board as yet, let alone gone through the selection process, so any magic act may still be a couple of months’ away.

The NSW’s Racing Minister has been a bit more decisive in his haste to replace the chairman of the Racing NSW board, announcing last week that Dr Saranne Cooke would fill the role left by Russell Balding’s departure.

Dr Cooke’s appointment was no great surprise, she had been deputy under Balding, and was seen as a move for stability, although fellow board member Tony Shepherd was also feted as a leading candidate.

However, there are still members of the NSW opposition, notably Damien Tudehope, who insist the incorrect process was followed to reappoint Cooke to the board in December after the turmoil of Balding’s departure. That comes down to interpretations of the Racing Act, which Minister Harris insists he sought advice on. It will be interesting to chart the next developments in that space.

The addition of Kevin Greene as a director has caused further consternation. It appears to be far from personal, those spoken to by The Straight emphasise Greene’s good standing and character.

But the fact Greene is a former Labor racing minister from 2008 to 2011 and served on the Racing NSW board for seven years previously is seen as a return to the safe option at a time when racing is facing considerable challenges in its funding model and broader scrutiny from society.

Thoroughbred Breeders NSW president Hamish Esplin encapsulated the feeling.

“What kind of message does that send to everyone else in the industry when you pick someone who has been on the board before and can only get back on because of a change to the legislation in 2019?”

There is also the ongoing question of the board selection process, with The Straight revealing last month that former harness chief John Dumesny was on the panel helping to Racing Minister. Dumesny is a lifelong friend of Racing NSW CEO Peter V’landys.

Such decisions are never going to please everyone but the racing politics environment in NSW is particularly febrile at the moment after the disastrous Rosehill proposal drove a wedge between administrators/clubs and participants.

Discontent has been fomenting for a few years, but the ATC/NSW government’s seemingly slapdash idea to announce the likely sell-off a beloved western Sydney racecourse without due prior consultation with key stakeholders has created an appetite for change.

That appetite is being driven from within a powerful group of participants, including high-profile trainers and breeders, who want to make sure they have a say on the future direction of the industry.

The Rosehill issue, regardless of what the outcome may now be, has seen a change in the relationship between administrators and participants. If those participants feel that can no longer trust that their best interests are no longer represented by administrators, then they will begin to lobby for change in government themselves.

In that regard, in NSW as in Victoria, the battle for power and the future direction of the two biggest racing jurisdictions in the country may have only just begun.

A tale of two PRAs – D-Day settles little in Victoria, NSW power battles

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