Hazzard subpoena twist in V’landys-TTR defamation case

Former NSW minister Brad Hazzard has been drawn into the ongoing defamation action involving Peter V’landys and publication The Thoroughbred Report, after the court subpoenaed him for related submissions in his yet-to-be-published review of the Thoroughbred Racing Act 1996.

In a twist in a legal case in which V’landys has launched defamation proceedings against The Thoroughbred Report, its managing director, Vicky Leonard, and journalist Kit Gow, Hazzard has been subpoenaed to produce submissions to his review that mention V’landys and communications with Leonard and her associates about him.

The matter was discussed at a hearing in the Supreme Court on Tuesday, with both Hazzard and the NSW government challenging the subpoena.

The subpoena does not relate to the full review, which remains Cabinet-in-confidence, despite Hazzard submitting it in July of this year.

Hazzard said the review process “was predicated on those making submissions feeling confident that their submissions would be treated confidentially”.

“I expected and believed that the process would be respected by all in the industry and until receipt of the subpoena I believe that is precisely what had happened,” he told The Sydney Morning Herald.

The government’s September 2025 discussion paper qualified that promise.

 “Confidentiality will be respected as far as possible but cannot be assured in all circumstances,” it said, noting submissions could be subject to freedom of information requests and parliamentary orders.

The defamation action concerns an article which dealt with questions over term limits for chief executives, published in November last year. Proceedings were filed on February 10 and the two parties are going through prolonged legal proceedings, with a final case over the matter not expected until well into 2027.

In parallel, the Hazzard review has not been released. It has become its own political fight, with the NSW government’s refusal to table it leading to upper house leader Penny Sharpe’s suspension on October 15.

V’landys is on leave from Racing NSW and is full-time executive chairman of the Australian Rugby League Commission. His time with Racing NSW ends on November 30.

Graeme Hinton takes over as chief executive on December 1.