From yesterday’s Hansard – Legislative Council. What a pity though that residents have to learn what is going on from parliamentarians rather than from their own local representatives!
Caulfield Racecourse Reserve: trustees
Ms PENNICUIK
(Southern Metropolitan)—My adjournment matter tonight is for the attention of the Premier. It is in regard to the Caulfield Racecourse Reserve, which the Minister for Health, who is in the chamber, would recall was the subject of the Select Committee on Public Land Development in 2008.
I direct this to the Premier because it concerns a letter that I know has been written to the Premier by Cr Jim Magee from the City of Glen Eira, who was recently elected chairman of trustees. He said:
The trustees are appointed by the Governor in Council on the recommendation of the minister for Crown lands, the Hon. Ryan Smith. The trust is comprised of six nominees of the Melbourne Racing Club (MRC), three councillors of the City of Glen Eira and six nominees of the minister.
Those arrangements appear to date back more than a hundred years.
During the inquiry the committee found that:
…The day-to-day management of the Crown land is in the control of the Melbourne Racing Club under delegation from the trustees.
…Evidence indicates the trustees’ practice has been to meet once a year… Their meetings are not open to the public, minutes of meetings are not made public nor is there any public release of financial statements.
MrMagee as chair was concerned about these issues. He wrote:
The Department of Sustainability and Environment publishes ‘Committee of Management Responsibilities and Good Practice Guidelines’… The trustees received a copy of the guidelines and advice from the Office of the Victorian Government Solicitor… on 24 February… that in his opinion:
It is clear that members of the general public could reasonably form the view that the nominated trustees may experience a conflict between their private obligations to the club and their duties as trustees, which could influence their decision making in relation to reserve tenure issues.
The majority of trustees have decided not to accept the advice or guidelines.
The Caulfield Racecourse Reserve is Crown land with a commercial value of approximately $2 billion. The land is used for a range of purposes, including racing-related, recreational and commercial purposes; however, as was discovered in the public land inquiry, the land is not used much for the purpose of being a public park, which was a clear purpose of the original trust deed. It is also not clear whether the trustees are governed by the Crown Land (Reserves) Act 1978 or not.
My request to the Premier is that he investigate the governance arrangements of the Caulfield Racecourse Reserve with a view to ensuring that the Crown land is subject to appropriate governance arrangements and that the process for establishing leases over this land meets all government requirements. As I said, it is not clear if and how the trustees are governed by the Crown land act and whether the 100-year-plus arrangement in place is consistent with modern ideas of good governance and the avoidance of conflict of interest.
Glen Eira Debates 
August 16, 2012 at 11:45 AM
Isn’t is amazing yet more talking – it’s been the only ‘exercise’ expended over the racecourse for more than eight years in this bout. The sawp’s gove ahead now and we have a lovely “wild weed style park” with a wire fence around it, as well as a weedy racecourse. There is a new concrete pit on the other part of the “land they gave use and of course going on for a hectare of pathways for cars)Cconcrete paving WHICH WILL SURE BE READY for the famed spring carnIval, and many kilometres of high white fences WHICH visually limit the vista of the once appreciated opportunity of the wide open space where the sky could be viewed totally without interruption, but there you go the MRC is the power behind all this. They are the all powerful cheap renting tenant. I have written many letters to almost every politician around and this is the best action I have received. Others although they represent us too just do nothing so I definitely can now see why and how the Irish question developed (the English grabbing the land of my ancestors and starving them to death while good food was exported to England), and why the Eureka Rebellion took place. Another case of our simple forefathers paying taxes without representation.
THE GOOD NEWS After all this time we now have a tunnel to share with the air in which the deisal trucks now building the MRC part of the Race course deal emit carcogens in it and over a thousand horse trips a day are made and you alll know what horses are good at too.
If we do risk this tunnel trip and go in it for a very small part of the day… oh… it must not be for lunch as the horses need their afternoon play. They are well represented by their trainers I hear them saying how they love Caullfield and I never hear our counmcillors saying how they would love the people of Melbourne to be able to share also, but they do talk about graffiti.. I believe if we had more work and play opportunities for our youth then it may not be a problem. Let’s try it!!!!!
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All one can hope for is the successful sale of the Pakenham Racecourse so as the TYNONG TRAINING ESTABLISHMENT CAN BE BUILT AND THE HORSE GO THERE.
August 16, 2012 at 11:55 AM
I agree with all that has been said. The Trust is an anachronism and it is time the State Government directly leases the Racecourse to the MRC. Many of us in Glen Eira are directly and indirectly associated with the Racecourse. Many of our Constituents work in the local Racing Industry and we all enjoy the Taberet. Pubic use of the Course is easy and the Facilities are enjoyed by all Victorians. I am sick of the NIMBY’s who moved into this area knowing the Course was there. Many of us love having the Racecourse in our area and are sick and tired of the continuous moaning of a few. You can always shift.
August 16, 2012 at 1:27 PM
It was a public reserve before it became used a s a racecourse. If you truely are a long term resident and not yet another MRC stooge, you would understand that access was far better in the past than under the current MRC regime. There used to be a childrens playground before the guineas tunnel was built almost 10 years ago. Queens Avenue was actually maintained and had beautiful large poplar trees along the avenue, all removed thnks to the MRC. The racecourse was all on one level before the MRC changed the configeration of the track. To date it has all been about the racecourse. I think its time to have a more equal balance. Lets dust off the Southwick ageement that was signed by the MRC and Councillors Hyams, Lipshutz, Esakoff and Pilling on 27 April 2011 with tasks that were to be completed within one year and see how the MRC and Council are tracking. Glen Eira, would you assist please in providing this scorecard?
August 16, 2012 at 5:24 PM
Let me assist. Centre of the racecourse – Dun nuthin, never will. Replacement of tin fences with pallisade – Dun nuthin, never will. Opening hours – Dun nuthin, never will. Access – Dun nuthin, never will. Scorecard complete.
August 16, 2012 at 7:17 PM
Councillor Neil Pilling of the Greens Party who has a number of like candidates at the next Council election provides the following extract from his Glorious website:
“These are all significant advances on the current arrangements as are the following;
– Fencing removed – over a staggered timeframe the majority of the perimeter fencing around the racecourse will be removed including the entire Queen St frontage, noting that there is a willingness by the MRC to complete this large section sooner than the agreed five years.”
NO PROGRESS WHATSOEVER!!!!!!!
“- Community events – there will be four community events per annum staged in the centre – an important aspect of the agreement that will bring large numbers of residents into the racecourse and provide a sense of awareness and appreciation of the new facilities and the site in general.”
NO PROGRESS WHATSOEVER!!!!!!!
“- Parking – the parking arrangements which restrict parking in the centre on the whole to race and the ten major event days whilst acknowledging aren’t ideal are workable. I accept they were the best arrangements that could be agreed by both parties in the conducted negotiations.”
CAVE IN TO THE MRC – NO BENEFIT TO FULL RATEPAYERS!!!!!!!
“- Improved public access – there will be better public access through the provision of a new separated walkway in the tunnel and also a pedestrian walkway opened up from Glenhuntly Park in Neerim rd – there will be unrestricted access to the entire centre from 930am on all available days.”
NO PROGRESS WHATSOEVER!!!!!!!
“-Funding – the MRC will pay for and fund all improvements except those on council land or will share costs where on boundaries ie Queens St fence removal.”
BAHAHAHA – NEWTON PUT UP BARRIERS TO SO HE DIDN’T NEED TO MAINTAIN QUEENS ST(SIC – PILLING HAS NO IDEA WHERE HE IS)
“-Timeline – all the improvements outlined in the agreement have been given reasonable definitive timeframes to be completed .”
REASONABLE BUT STILL NOI PROGRESS – WHAT ARE YOU DOING ABOUT THIS NEIL???
“To reject this agreement as some of my collegues are urging would place at great risk the entire range of community benefits negotiated and also the future co-operation and the good-will advanced between parties to deliver these. This would be a retrograde step- a risk I am not prepared to take. This item is not about past history, personal crusades, personalities or individual grievences – its about delivering tangible real benefits now and continuing to do so whilst building upon these in the future years ahead.
As such I will be supporting this motion.”
WELL NEIL, WHAT A PATHETIC RECORD YOU AND YOUR GREEN SUPPORTERS CURRENTLY HAVE. SUE PENNICUIK NEEDS SOME HELP!!!!!!
August 16, 2012 at 7:49 PM
Now I am confused. What is the Greens stance regarding improving the use of Caulfield racecourse????????
August 16, 2012 at 12:59 PM
fair play to Magee. up to the racing industry to do some back room dealing now to keep control of their land. A truly minority corrupt sport stopping the majority of the public using a public park.
August 16, 2012 at 4:37 PM
Maybe I”m completely naive, but I would have thought that for something as important as the racecourse for the community any correspondence to ministers should be put into the public domain. In particular if it’s writen on behalf of the community by a councillor. If Magee did this off his own bat, then that’s one thing. If it was written with full council knowledge and compliance via a resolution, then that also should be in the public minutes. Was it written on Glen Eira letterhead for example?
I’m not having a go at the letter or Magee’s motives here. All I’m stating is that the continued secrecy that surrounds anything to do with the racecourse is unacceptable. We’ve been waiting for over a year to get a peep out of anyone on the issues. All we’ve got is a Leader article and the bagging of a local resident as the scape goat for holding up works in the centre. What’s happened with the Special committee and the advisory committe? Have they had any meetings and if they have where are the minutes. If they haven’t met then they should explain why they haven’t. A year is a hell of a long time between drinks.
The bottom line in all this is more of the same. This is a council that likes to feed its residents the occasional tit-bits to keep the plebs happy. To my way of thinking, that’s not good governance and transparent decision making. But hey, we know all that I’d assume.
August 16, 2012 at 4:43 PM
Answer to anon at 11.55. To accuse people as being Nimbys because they complain about the access between only 9.30 and 2.00 pm and four pm till dusk (5.15 in winter) as it is currently is a very shallow categorisation. There are also many other days as well as race days when the whole area is completely devoted the the commercial needs of our reserve and sometimes even our streets are closed off without reasonable notice at the whim of the MRC and their tenants
. For over fifty years I have always lived within walking distance in three homes and I have witnessed the gradual but determined exclusion of human beings from the reserve. The was written on the title as being a condition of the original grant in 1848 by Queen Victoria.
In fact I have substantial connections with the racing industry and have many relations who own, train and punt on thoroughbreds. You have failed to see my point of view which is fair enough, but when Charles Cooper, Harry Creighton,Harold Bird and Mr Heywood were trainers (to name a few) they owned their own stables and only visited the public land for a short time each day without the gates needed to be chained for most of the day because horses are stabled on Crown :Land.
It may be of interest to you that until 1992, to know as well that one could take a pleasant evening’s walk across a well lit track along a welcoming bitumen pathway to Glenhuntly from the station and vice versa rather than waiting for a train.
I conclude by asking what would be the difference if i were to conduct a mechanical workshop or builders’ yard or even build my house as well on the racecourse for a rent so cheap that it has enabled me to purchase 12 hotels and the second most number of poker machines in the state (over 700), which because the MRC is a “non profit sporting organisation” it also benefits from a reduced state taxation rate of only 25 cents in the dollar whereas Zagami’s has to pay 33 cents. Also Z’s also has to pay landtax for its site but the MRC for its betting arm of the non-profit “Pegasus Leisure Pty. Ltd” at Caulfield probably obtains this free of land tax.
Yes I too don’t mind a poky try or attrending the races but anywhere else but there.
August 16, 2012 at 5:51 PM
Problem is we have a bunch of light-weights as politicians in Glen Eira. Southwick, Hyams, Lipshutz, Pilling and Esakoff would rather take on voters and residents than the MRC. The only action taken by the MRC 18 months since C60 was signed has been appointing the developer. The Southwick/Council/MRC agreement has been a big con.
August 16, 2012 at 8:44 PM
I think Cr Pilling has been trying hard, hence forwarding the email to Sue Pennicuik. Problem is that Newton and Burke have been working for the MRC on this. Penhalluriack has caught them out so wait until VCAT 2 commences and then the shit will hit the fan.
August 16, 2012 at 9:55 PM
Almost 3 years ago Sue Pennicuik introduced an Amendment opposing the land swap that so favoured the MRC, but it was predictably defeated by both Labor and Liberal. In giving her the two-finger salute, it was made very clear that the major parties were happy with current management arrangements and had no intention of changing them. Despite the “undertakings”, the governance of the Crown Land remains abysmal. The problem is squarely the making of successive State Governments through their endorsement of all that the MRC has done for themselves and failed to do for the community.
Personally I don’t think its good enough simply to ask the Government to investigate the governance arrangements. I expect a clear exposition of the principles that should be applied in managing the land, and that the Trustees are only permitted to act in their positions so long as they adhere to the principles. I do wonder if the Government would dare admit publicly that the main principle is that the land is to be managed for the benefit of the MRC to the exclusion of all else.
Should the Government decide that a key principle is the public must have a viable public park and public reserve, then there is no place and no role for the current MRC and State Government representatives. For all the talk about the failure of the MRC to implement the Agreement, it should never have been up to the MRC. It should be the Trustees collecting money through prudent management of the public resource, and the Trustees investing that money to improve facilities for the three purposes, and the Trustees having to account at least annually for how the money has been spent, including showing the proportions spent on Racecourse, Public Reserve, and Public Park.
August 16, 2012 at 9:58 PM
Also all please note the new blue signs recently erected which tell motorists how to access the Caulfield Racecourse Carpark with no mention of the park in what I now call the pimple of the racecource due to its small size. There were earlier political directions for a more inclusive notice in the years gone by but as usual the only part of every agreement or order given to MRC is only interpreted “the MRC way”