🔒 🔒 Ex-MRC committeeman out of VRC board race over police check issue

Former Melbourne Racing Club (MRC) committeeman Justin O’Kane will not contest the Victoria Racing Club (VRC) board election after the club rejected his nomination on the grounds that he did not lodge an up-to-date national police certificate by the nomination deadline.

An investment manager, O’Kane set out the sequence of events in a statement posted to Facebook.

“The club ruled my nomination invalid because I could not provide a national police certificate issued on or after 21 September by 5pm on 5 November, as required by the club,” he wrote.

O’Kane applied for the check on November 2, three days before nominations closed.

“It was referred for manual review, meaning that instead of being processed within minutes, the report could take up to 20 business days,” O’Kane said.

In the meantime he gave the VRC a police check obtained in August 2026. The updated certificate arrived on November 9, four days after the cut-off, and the club accepted neither document.

O’Kane also said the nomination papers were slow to reach him after he requested them from the VRC, which “reduced the time available to complete the process and contributed to the police check not being submitted by the deadline”.

“I accept the club’s decision and will not stand in this year’s election,” he said.

The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission says around 70 per cent of checks through its National Police Checking Service are completed within minutes, while police agencies handle the rest manually.

Its guidance states there is no standard validity period for a result, and that the organisation requiring the check typically sets one.

O’Kane spent five years as a committee member at Caulfield, overlapping with John Kanga, who is also standing for the VRC board. He and Kanga have known each other for 30 years, although O’Kane left the MRC before Kanga became chairman in September 2023. O’Kane was set to stand for the MRC election again this year but withdrew his candidacy.

Nominations for the VRC opened on October 19 for four board seats: the vacancy created by retiring chairman Neil Wilson, and the positions of chairman-elect Vin Cox, treasurer Glenn Carmody and director Michael Saadie, who are all seeking re-election.

The Straight understands that as well as the three existing directors, others in the race include Kanga, Bill Guest and Claire Ewart-Kennedy.

A contested ballot would go to members late this month, with the result to be announced at the annual general meeting at Flemington on December 15.