2016-09-13
Ms PENNICUIK (Southern Metropolitan) — Last weekend the Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change announced that the trustees of the Caulfield Racecourse Reserve Trust (CRRT) had been asked to resign and that an independent, modern governance structure would be set up following the report of the bipartisan working group of the Caulfield Racecourse Reserve (CRR). The working group, made up of David Southwick and Steve Dimopoulos from the Legislative Assembly, and independent chair Mr Ken Ryan confirmed what the community has known for years: that the CRR has been run by the Melbourne Racing Club (MRC) by delegation from the CRRT, which is stacked with racing figures almost exclusively in the interests and profit of the racing industry, and the public has been shut out of its own land for decades.
City of Glen Eira councillor Jim Magee, who has been a tireless advocate for change, recently tweeted a copy of an article in the Argus of 1906 where the community called for the sacking of the trust and more public access to the land that was being co-opted exclusively for racing.
I was surprised to see the report open by stating that governance and operational issues have been raised over several years by the member for Caulfield, the local community, the City of Glen Eira, the CRRT and the MRC. Other members of Parliament, including me, have also been raising these issues over many years, as indeed has the local community and the Glen Eira council. The members of the CRRT and the MRC have up until now been resistant to change. I would think that such a report should aim to be more accurate and balanced in this regard.
The working group has found that the CRRT has not taken sufficient action to address the Victorian Auditor-General's Office's recommendations of 2014. All stakeholders now agree that a new independent structure should be set up. It has to be acknowledged that this is a breakthrough. Whatever happens, it must tip the balance in favour of the community. For too long the interests of racing have prevailed and millions of dollars have been siphoned into racing from its virtually unfettered and unaccountable use of public land.