EXCLUSIVE: Racing NSW chief executive Peter V’landys and then-chairman Russell Balding held a confidential meeting with the NSW government Cabinet Office to discuss the sale of Rosehill racecourse three weeks before the proposal was made public in December.
The two racing powerbrokers supported the proposal but expressed concerns over the future governance of the Australian Turf Club (ATC) board. They argued that the estimated $5 billion from the sale should be "reinvested to benefit the racing industry as a whole" rather than retained by the club.
The meeting with The Cabinet Office (TCO) in Sydney on November 17, 2023, 19 days before Premier Chris Minns and the ATC announced the “once-in-a-generation” opportunity was being considered.
The strong support for the sale of Rosehill expressed by the Racing NSW boss and chairman in the November 17 meeting contrasts with V'landys's public statements on the issue in recent times.
On April 3 he told reporters: "We will do our due diligence and we will see if it is good for the racing industry and if it is we'll certainly participate. But if it isn't, we won't.”
Asked about the meeting by The Straight, V’landys said Racing NSW wanted to seek information from the government and reiterated the regulator had played no part in the formation of the proposal.
“Racing NSW did not instigate the ATCs proposal to government,” he said.
“As you would have seen of the documents we were seeking information some time after the initial approach as we were not involved and as per our charter we wanted to ensure any deal was in the best interests as the NSW thoroughbred industry as a whole.”
The Racing NSW meeting has been revealed after thousands of documents and emails relating to the proposed sale of Rosehill - including TCO notes from their meeting with Racing NSW on November 17 - were made public.
“Racing NSW did not instigate the ATCs proposal to government." - Peter V'landys
Opposition and cross-bench politicians joined forces to pass a "call for papers," a parliamentary motion forcing the government to table all correspondence on a given issue.
Documents seen by The Straight reveal Racing NSW suggested to TCO that “there may be a need to reform the governance of the ATC via legislation”.
The two key elements of Racing NSW’s proposed governance changes included ensuring the ATC is governed by an appropriately skills-based board and “reforms to ensure that the revenue derived from the ATC proposal is reinvested to benefit the racing industry as a whole”.
The office advised that the Minister for Gaming and Racing would deal with any proposals for legislative reform, and no specific request or commitment was made on governance reform at that meeting.
V’landys insisted to The Straight that the discussion surrounding the ATC board governance was to ensure the board had the right people to handle any Rosehill development.
“In regards to so-called governance reform we wanted to ensure with expenditure in the billions of dollars that there was room on the board for persons with the appropriate skills to manage such a significant amount of money,” V’landys said.
“Any regulator worth its salt would require such a condition.”
In a separate document dated November 13, four days before the meeting between Racing NSW and TCO, Enterprise NSW provided advice to TCO as to whether the approval of the majority of ATC members was required.
“The information we possess suggests that it is only the ATC board that would need to approve the submission of a proposal, and not also the ATC members,” the document response read.
The Straight is not implying that Racing NSW knew about this correspondence.
That revelation is, however, likely to cause major concern for ATC members, who have been previously assured they will get to vote on any redevelopment, closure, or sale of Rosehill.
Premier Minns said in parliament in February that the proposal would be “up to the ATC and the members of the ATC to decide, not the NSW government”.
However, in replying last week to a question on notice from upper house MP Mark Latham, the Labor government seemed to walk back on that pledge.
“The Australian Turf Club - as the landowner of Rosehill Racecourse - will make its own decisions related to the consultations it needs to undertake with its membership,” the response on behalf of the Premier said.
Bren O’Brien
In terms of when exactly Racing NSW became involved in the project, the November 17 meeting is the first time it discussed Rosehill with the government in publicly available documents.
An email to the government from the ATC’s Steve McMahon, also published as part of the tranche of documents and dated November 8, indicated that the ATC needed to discuss the proposal with Racing NSW, and he “would consider them part of the Project Team”.
The November 17 meeting also saw V’landys and Balding emphasise the need for the proposed training site at Horsley Park to be a “genuinely world-class centre of excellence” large enough to accommodate the needs of both equestrian interests as well as thoroughbred trainers “to ensure key trainers remain in NSW”.
“There is competition for trainers to relocate to other jurisdictions, particularly Victoria,” the notes of the meeting said.
Warwick Barr
Racing NSW also expressed its desire at the meeting that Kembla Grange racecourse become “an industry asset”, with the freehold or long-term lease transferred to Racing NSW.
There was no discussion at the meeting of a new fourth metropolitan track to be built in lieu of Rosehill's likely closure. However, it was raised that consideration needs to be made of other racetracks around the state that would have to pick up the workload.
The suitability of Warwick Farm as a replacement was also discussed.
“Racing NSW considers Warwick Farm might be expensive to convert to a full top-grade racecourse. Subject to deeper investigation there may not be enough room,” the minutes from the meeting read.
“On this basis, it is important to consider the state of racing venues across NSW to potentially share the load.”
The two Racing NSW representatives signed a confidentiality agreement “on the basis that there was the potential for commercially sensitive information to be discussed”.
Around 12 boxes containing over 600 documents, emails and notes were made public while a further cache of around 800 documents was not released publicly as they have either parliamentary or legal/professional privilege.
The Cabinet Office leads policy and strategy for the NSW government, implementing key government priorities and providing policy, legal, and governance advice to the Premier and Cabinet.
The meeting with Racing NSW occurred on the same day the Minns government was reportedly strongly supporting Balding's re-appointment as chairman of Racing NSW.
“The minister [David Harris] has made clear his decision is based upon the need for continuity of corporate knowledge to navigate changing regulatory and economic reforms confronting the racing industry over the next two years,” Minns told The Sydney Morning Herald in an article published on November 17.
However, less than two weeks later, in a stunning about-face, the bid to extend Balding's board term to 14 years was abandoned by Gaming and Racing Minister David Harris, who pulled the required bill at the last moment.
That came after considerable pressure from the opposition and crossbench to only extend Balding’s term on the proviso that measures for greater transparency were imposed on Racing NSW.
Balding left the board in December with Saranne Cooke chosen to be his replacement as chair.
Bren O’Brien
