NSW Upper House committee to investigate proposed sale of Rosehill
The Australian Turf Club’s highly contentious $5 billion proposal to sell off and redevelop Sydney’s Rosehill racecourse will be investigated by a NSW Upper House Select Committee.
The NSW Parliament’s Legislative Council on Wednesday carried a motion with the support of the Opposition, the Greens, the Animal Justice Party and independent MP Mark Latham, 21 votes to 18 to inquire into the plan to build as many as 25,000 homes at the renowned racecourse site.
Liberal MP and the Leader of the Opposition in the Upper House, Damien Tudehope, claimed in Parliament in outlining his support for the motion that the Labor Government had been “a cheerleader for the ATC’s unsolicited proposal to convert Rosehill Racecourse into housing since day one”, going on to suggest that “a multi-billion dollar proposition should not be drawn up on the back of a napkin”.
“There are serious questions as to whose idea it was to redevelop Rosehill and the impartiality of the Government in the unsolicited proposal process, which is a key requirement of that process,” said Tudehope who put forward the motion on behalf of Opposition Minister for Housing Scott Farlow.
“Under the unsolicited proposal process, it is imperative that the Government remain impartial, but instead the Premier called the proposal a once-in-a-generation opportunity and has been its biggest proponent ever since.
“The details that we have learned, courtesy of a racecourse housing developments proposal pursuant to Standing Order 52, passed in the March sittings, have been eye-opening to the lack of impartiality from the Minns Labor Government to the unsolicited proposal to redevelop Rosehill Racecourse.”
The outspoken Latham, an ATC member, racehorse owner and breeder, also spoke in favour of the motion, labelling the revelations uncovered in the successful “call for papers” released last month as “weird”.
He also described the process as “rushed and ad hoc” and that “the committee is warranted for that and many other reasons”.
“This committee is much needed because for anyone who’s read the SO52 documents, it’s been a weird, weird, confusing, perplexing, disastrous process that’s led us to the point of a proposal for the sale of Rosehill racecourse,” Latham told the House.
Latham, who will not sit on the Select Committee, continued: “This wasn’t the ATC’s proposal, it was the Government’s proposal solicited by the Minns Government.
“Then you get to the weird document in early November in the SO52 where the Cabinet Office is suggesting an unsolicited proposal, knowing full well it’s been solicited by the Government.”
The Committee can compel those involved in the proposal – board members and executives of the ATC and Racing NSW as well as government ministers and public servants – to answer questions about the sell-off of one of Sydney’s premier racecourses.
Labor’s Minister for Housing Rose Jackson spoke against the motion, although she welcomed transparency around the planned Rosehill sell-off.
“What we don’t welcome is an effort to frustrate and delay the opportunity to explore this proposal,” Jackson said.
“The establishment of a parliamentary inquiry, a committee to go through all of this is nothing more than a stunt because those opposite are determined to snuff out any discussion about more housing in this state.”
The “call for papers” indicated that the proposal to redevelop Rosehill could go ahead without a members’ vote, but ATC chair Peter McGauran on May 3 reiterated that the club would not proceed without its members’ support.
“Rosehill Gardens racecourse is owned by the ATC and, in that sense, it is owned by the Members,” McGauran wrote in an email.
“Rosehill will not be sold unless the Members decide to do so. Under the Registered Clubs Act 1976 the racecourse is not permitted to be sold unless the Members vote in favour of the sale. If the Members vote against the sale that will be the end of the proposal. The Members’ vote will be respected.
“If, however, the Members vote in favour of the sale and the sale goes ahead, the proceeds of sale will be the ATC’s money, and no one else’s. It will be invested and spent in the interests of the ATC and its Members.”