The Auditor General has released his long awaited report on the governance of the Trustees and the oversight management of the Department of Primary Industry on the crown land that constitutes the Caulfield Racecourse Reserve. We congratulate the Auditor General’s office for the report and for affirming what can only be described as a combination of blatant incompetence and vested interests that have been allowed to reign for far too long and to the detriment of the local community. No public office escapes unscathed. We will comment in greater detail once we’ve had time to fully digest the report. We’ve uploaded the full report HERE.
Serious problems with management of Crown land at Caulfield Racecourse found by the Auditor-General
- September 17, 2014
A scathing report reveals public parkland at the Caulfield Racecourse has not been managed well by the trustees.
PUBLIC parkland at the centre of the Caulfield Racecourse has been seriously mismanaged, a scathing Victorian Auditor-General report has found.
Auditor-General John Doyle’s scathing report, tabled in Parliament this morning, has found there was poor access to the public land, “significant’’ deficiencies in governance by the board of trustees, conflicts of interest among trustees that have not been managed well and more.
Mr Doyle said the 54-hectare site had been governed by 15 trustees whose decisions have “disproportionately favoured racing interests with insufficient attention paid to fulfilling the community-related purposes of the reserve’’.
The report says public space is not easily accessible, entry points and signage are inadequate, and although the reserve has recently been upgraded, it doesn’t address the community need for better recreational facilities within Glen Eira.
The report also calls for community consultation on what should be done with the reserve.
With a severe shortage of open space and sports grounds in Glen Eira, the council wants sports grounds developed on the reserve, which has a lake, grassed area, walking track and barbecue facilities.
“ … it is not clear that the needs of the community have been appropriately balanced against the needs of racing.’’ — Auditor-General John Doyle
The council has also argued the $80,000 annual rent the Trust charges the MRC is well under the independently valued rate of about $1 million.
Six trustees represent government, six represent the Melbourne Racing Club and three represent Glen Eira Council.
“There is no doubt that the reserve is a significant public asset and one of Australia’s premier racing tracks, hosting high-profile races such as the Caulfield Cup and bringing in significant revenue for the state. However, it is not clear that the needs of the community have been appropriately balanced against the needs of racing’’, Mr Doyle found.
Trust chairman Greg Sword welcomed the report, vowed to implement the recommendations, accepted criticism of conflict of interests historically and currently not managed well and said the Trust now had a blueprint for crucial improvements.“The VAGO points to significant conflict of interest and it is difficult,’’ he said.
“This provides the Trust, whether restructured or not, with a great blueprint for the way in which it should act in the future.’’
The DEPI has also accepted all recommendations relating to its role.
The news has drawn a quick response from Glen Eira councillor and former Trust chairman Jim Magee, who has for years lobbied for change to the way the reserve is managed.
“It’s absolutely scathing,’’ he said.
“It validates everything that we’ve said in the past. We now have to look to the Premier and the Opposition leader to implement all the recommendations.’’
Cr Jim Magee was the former Trust chairman.
It contains 15 recommendations to address those issues needing “immediate attention’’ and for the future management of the reserve.Five apply directly to the trustees of the Caulfield Racecourse Reserve, six to the Department of Environment and Primary Industries which oversees the performance of Crown land managers and four require joint action by the trustees and the department.
The VAGO says unless the issues can be addressed, alternative management arrangements over the reserve should be considered.
Mr Doyle says the Trust should be given the chance to introduce contemporary governance standards but if it fails or trustees cannot agree then other arrangements, such as a committee of management or a new trust under its own legislation, must be considered.
The Premier’s office has been approached for comment.
Glen Eira Debates 
September 17, 2014 at 2:15 PM
I know it is a miniscule part of the report and will be probably be conveniently glossed over but I like the bit about the polytrack being built without permission of CRRT. Were they not showing off about it. Amazing what would happen to a normal person if they built something on crown land without permission – Lindsay Fox for example or those people who poison trees at the beach obstructing their views?
The Caulfield Polytrack installation
· 17,000m2 of track – the equivalent of 65 tennis courts – has been refurbished;
· 4100 tonnes of New Generation Polytrack has been manufactured on site;
· Some components of the track travelled over 9150 nautical miles, or 17,000km, for the refurbishment;
· It took all of ten days for the surface to be moved by two trucks from the Caulfield Racecourse Guineas Car Park to the track
September 17, 2014 at 10:00 PM
Ya mean the track that Southwick calls a specially devised “running track” for all our athletes? Real kind of the mrc to think about the youngsters ain’t it?
September 17, 2014 at 2:54 PM
Wanna bet Caulfield’s Member for Taking Credit (Southwick) get’s in on the act.
Just because neither his website or any Hansard Speech makes any reference to the Reserve’s now notorious mismanagement he won’t let himself be excluded. After all, he did
. heavily promote the fun run on the un-authorised synthetic track and the MRC’s spending of their “own money” on the long overdue centre landscaping (which far from being a gracious gesture was a condition of the infamous land swap)
. strongly advocate for fish to be put in the only publicly accessible lake.
September 17, 2014 at 3:30 PM
This is terrific news for the community. Finally a government agency has had the balls to do its job properly and not mind how many toes it is stepping on. They deserve all credit.
The next hurdle to overcome is how long reform will take and whether or not it fulfills what is recommended. None of the agencies would be too pleased with the requirement for stakeholder input and that includes Council too. Looking at the report the Melbourne Racing Club members are already baulking at having to come under the regulations of the Financial management act and another one. If they won’t come willingly, then they have to be dragged there and the same goes for council.
Good that there will be the hoped for opportunity for sport but all that residents have got is a stupid little map showing the centre and covered in diagrams of baseball, soccer, and basketball courts layered over the top. There hasn’t been any consultation on this and if this report is to really get the job done, then council too has to be dragged into the requirement for being transparent and involving the community. Then the council reps can fair dinkum claim that they are representing what the community wants and not just what the sporting lobby wants.
September 17, 2014 at 4:16 PM
The Auditor General also criticises the fact that community input is indirect, ie. via Councillors.
i doubt if he knows how truly ïndirect that input is.
September 17, 2014 at 3:44 PM
Great example of why an Auditor should stick to historical accounting rather than making a poor attempt at Management Reporting.I do note one matter and that is two of the Councillors named as Trustees were sacked as Councillors in 2005 and are partially responsible for this mess.
September 17, 2014 at 4:14 PM
Accounting and sound governance would go hand in hand I believe. The AG has done a good job. Anyway, if you follow the money it leads back to Napthine, Jennings, and all the other race blokes and their mates on the mrc board and within council.
September 17, 2014 at 4:18 PM
Do you think he would do an audit on Glen Eira Council?
September 17, 2014 at 4:20 PM
In the past I have been scathing of Magee and no doubt I will be again.
However, in this instance I acknowledge he has done a damn good job.
Congratulations Jim.
September 17, 2014 at 10:28 PM
Jim’s a “Johnny come lately”
September 17, 2014 at 7:54 PM
http://www.smh.com.au/victoria/public-reserve-used-only-for-racing-interests-says-auditorgeneral-20140917-10ic2y.html
Despite it being set aside 150 years ago as a park for the public as well as for horseracing, Caulfield Racecourse Reserve is run almost exclusively to serve the interests of the Melbourne Racing Club, a scathing Auditor-General’s report has found.
And local residents, outraged by public land being handed to private developers for high-rise apartments, say the report calls into question how that deal was done.
Auditor-General John Doyle on Wednesday released his report into the management and oversight of the racecourse.
He said the needs of the community had not been balanced appropriately against the needs of racing.
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The report found the Napthine government’s Department of Environment and Primary Industry failed to properly oversee management of the 54-hectare reserve.
Nor had the trust responsible for managing competing interests of the public reserve and horseracing been run well, it found.
Established in the 1870s, the reserve’s three purposes are for horseracing, public recreation and as a park.
But management of the reserve – left to trustees from the state government, the Melbourne Racing Club, and the local Glen Eira City Council – had seen only horseracing adequately looked after, the report found.
This was a result of clear conflicts of interest between the trustees and the racing club, the Auditor-General found.
And he found that, despite the Caulfield Racecourse Reserve being Crown land, much of it was not available for the community’s use.
On a visit there, Mr Doyle found “public access areas were not welcoming or easily accessed, with poor signage both at entrances and within the reserve”.
And despite a reported $1.8 million upgrade to the centre of the reserve, “public space within the reserve is not easy to reach and the recreational facilities are limited”, he said.
Glen Eira mayor Neil Pilling said the racing club had been allowed “to do whatever it wants, to the detriment of the local community”. He accused the state government of “not doing its job” in looking after the needs of residents against the race club.
“If we had an equitable arrangement with the racing club, we could have multiple sporting fields in the centre of the racecourse – we’ve been trying for years [for] that.”
The report details a commercial development that includes 2000 apartments and retail space on a triangle of land now owned by the Melbourne Racing Club.
Chris Foley is a resident who lives adjacent to where at least one 20-storey apartment tower will be built on the land.
Mr Foley said the land swap of Crown land that had led to the development had been highly secretive and served the interests of the racing club, not the public.
“People did not know what was going on, and we’ll be left with, on that triangle, an apartment block far bigger than anything in the area,” he said.
Environment Minister Ryan Smith referred queries over the report to his department, which did not respond by deadline.
Opposition planning spokesman Brian Tee said the vision of previous generations for the land to be shared by the community and racing clubs had been “trashed” by the state government’s neglect.
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/public-reserve-used-only-for-racing-interests-says-auditorgeneral-20140917-10ic2y.html#ixzz3DZ6qOY5K
September 18, 2014 at 10:44 AM
Mr. Tee doesn’t belong to the “club” that looks after the racing interests. He is from South Africa then Perth. He is an “outsider”. Whether the politicians are Liberal or Labor they will look after the racing interests. Mr. Tee will learn about this fact and be told to settle down. Staikos was invited into the club to sit as Trustee by government appointment. He sits with retired pollies from both sides on the Trust. He will not make waves. Only a fool would appoint a troublemaker. It will take more than a Auditor Generals report to loosen the grip the MRC has on how things turn out. That is how it works.
September 17, 2014 at 8:22 PM
I’m reading what Pilling has allegedly told the reporter and can’t believe the hypocrisy of this statement – “Glen Eira mayor Neil Pilling said the racing club had been allowed “to do whatever it wants, to the detriment of the local community”. He accused the state government of “not doing its job” in looking after the needs of residents against the race club.”
It wasn’t the state government that set up the gang of four special committee and it wasn’t the government that approved the c60 and the developments in the centre of the racecourse. It was Newton and 4 councillors. Pilling was one of these councillors. For him to turn around now and talk about looking after the needs of residents is frankly shameful. This group gave the mrc every single thing they asked for and not the minister or the state government. Every amendment was agreed to and accepted by council from the c60 to the c111 and even the huge screen on public crown land. That has nothing to do with government and everything to do with council.
I also challenge that the issue of sporting grounds in the centre has been around for “years”. No it hasn’t. This has only come up post Penhalluriack when council thought it might want to appear to be on the side of residents. The Auditor General’s report in fact makes the comment that the arrangement for the centre were done by the mrc and council with very little opportunity for public input. The number of fences going up was also mentioned in the report. Council could have come down on them like a ton of bricks, but they obviously didn’t. When the synthetic track went in and encroached on public space council was again silent with no peep out of council reps.
One thing that the Auditor General’s report has achieved is to show up how abysmally everyone involved has performed. This is across the political spectrum from Labor to the Liberals.
I’m not completely satisfied with the recommendations. If this happened in private industry then the entire 15 trustees would have been fired on the spot. I don’t see why this shouldn’t happen now.
September 17, 2014 at 10:07 PM
I’m in full agreement with you Mr Evans. 150 years of poor governance does not deserve any more reprieves. History shows that the current composition of the trustees is unworkable and judging by the MRC’s response to the audit, nothing of great substance is likely to change. An independent committee of management should be set up immediately and all current trustees removed. The time for the snout in the public trough must be ended now.
September 18, 2014 at 6:33 AM
As a result of C60 Pilling bcame Mayor and Liipshutz, Hyams and Esakoff became Trustees. That says plenty.
All Trustees should be handing in their resignations today. As the AG points out they have totally failed to fulfill their moral and ethical responsibilities. The fact that Trust no formal legislation governing their management does not absolve them of those responsibilities. Because legislation and government oversight has not been provided they have gone hell for leather to the finishing post wearing the MRC colours.
September 20, 2014 at 9:15 PM
I agree with your last comment Ive been in that Board Room presenting to the 15 trustees and I dont know what the hell the 15 of them do except be mesmerized by the amazing racecourse view out the picture window. They need to be replaced with a Committee of Management immediately
September 18, 2014 at 8:55 AM
Council’s comment on the AG’s report is very mild considering how they usually trumpet from the rafters the slightest or most misleading crap about how good they are.
http://www.gleneira.vic.gov.au/Council/Media_and_news/News/Council_welcomes_tabling_of_report_on_Caulfield_Racecourse_Reserve
I’m thinking it’s because they dodged a major bullet – that bullet being the inclusion of their performance in the management of the racecourse in the report.
The comment that Council and Councillor Trustees only present indirect information to the community is damning.
September 18, 2014 at 10:48 AM
look forward to the MRC saying ‘looking forward to working with government to open the racecourse’ which really means they will be trying to keep control of as much as possible of the public land. See how they are organising charity race days and visits to the stables to try and appease the community. They should be told what to do ie you can have the racetrack and that is it!. Cut the crap about no access to the public on any days
September 18, 2014 at 11:32 AM
The land swap and how the C60 came about is what I’m interested in. The auditor general includes a table where in 2006 council was worried about the size and scale of the master plans and I guess the lack of detail. This doesn’t satisfy me and doesn’t explain how come a few years later the same concerns aren’t stated by council. In 2006 they reject because too big and then in 2011 it becomes okay. Nothing had changed expect the size and ambition of the mrc. Council didn’t do a single thing to stop it. They sold their soul for a lousy few millions with no concern for what would happen to all those people living in the area. That’s what the auditor general needed to look at. The trust is lousy and so is the government. Council is the worst and I blame Newton, Pilling, Esakoff, Hyams and Lipshutz completely. The whole thing stinks and is as corrupt as you can get.
September 18, 2014 at 1:29 PM
Whilst it obviously fashionable to join the mob and decry all the Reserve Trustees, if you actually read the full audit it’s clear that the last two Chair’s of the Trust and “the majority” of the Trustees have been actively trying to reform for the better for at least 4 years.
Numerous references are to the Trust/ Chairs attempting to engage and ask for assistance from State Government/ DEPI in breaking down both the poor governance set up and also the impasse in negotiations with the MRC over community access, rent and the lease renewal.
The audit recommendations make it clear that these aspirations have been ignored or negated by State Gvt/DEPI, and blocked by the MRC and (unstated but assumed) the minority of Trustees appointed by and representing them.
September 18, 2014 at 2:36 PM
I’m, sorry I can’t agree with you.
The Trustee’s have never adopted a governance framework or policy, they don’t even have a quorum defined. The Trustees can all be considered to be of a senior executive status, all of them understand meeting and governance procedures yet they have chosen not to implement them. Why, because this not so illustrious group can’t agree.
In 2008 the Legislative Council’s Select Committee on Public Land resoundingly criticised the Trustee’s Management of the Racecourse and recommended that it be replaced. The exact same issues raised, and acknowledged by the Trustees, during that review remain today. They are the all included in the AG’s Report.
If “the majority” of the Trustees have been trying for “long overdue” (that phrase is in the AG’s Report) improvements over the past 4 years then why hasn’t anything been achieved.
Neither the Liberal Government, particularly under racing enthusiast Napthine, and the DEPI have not stepped up to the plate. This does not absolve the Trustees, it just shows how poorly the public land is managed in Victoria.
As for the MRC – they are doing what they have always done, assumed the land is theirs and acted accordingly. Which, incidentally, is exactly what the Trust was supposed to prevent happening.
September 18, 2014 at 2:54 PM
It is worth noting that at a past council meeting of several years ago the minutes record that one of the councillor reps did not vote with the others. Secondly Tang was absent for numerous trustee meetings thus not fulfilling his appointed role. Thirdly the AG report does comment several times that all the community could rely upon to represent them were their councillor reps. Since there has never been any consultation by this council on what residents really want for the racecourse, then their ‘representation’ of community views must be highly suspect. The report notes that it was the MRC plus council that put their heads together and not the community. Where we would differ with the report is that the impression created is that over the last few years there has been an attempt by the trustees to permit residents to attend. We know of only 2 instances where this has occurred but countless more when residents ‘applied’ to appear but didn’t even get a response from the trustees. The recent ‘appearances’ consisted of a token time alloted where the resident stated their view; were not asked any questions, left the room and were not provided with any subsequent feedback. This does not meet our assumed definition of ‘access’, and ‘community involvement’.
September 18, 2014 at 5:47 PM
Since you seem to have some insider knowledge of the Trustees – could you please name one that has actually walked the distance between either the Neerim Road or Queens Road Pedestrian Access Gates and the Centre of the Racecourse since all the fencing was installed in 2011?
September 18, 2014 at 2:56 PM
so whats the bet was he on our side all along?
David Southwick @SouthwickMP · 5m
Will be making a statement in Parliament #springst today about the #AuditorGeneral report on #Caulfield Racecourse Reserve. @AndreaKellett1
September 18, 2014 at 3:36 PM
Refer comment 2 above …. bet that comment is spot on.
September 18, 2014 at 3:28 PM
Peter Jenkin have you also realised that the three Councillor Trustees, Lipshuzt Hyam and Esakoff will be shaking in their boots?
Doggy Magee will be brainwashed by the 3 Musketeers if he succumbs to pressure by the three liberal Councillors. He has a trump card and should not replace it with a Joker, His integrity as one of the community leaders will be on show.
September 18, 2014 at 3:56 PM
If anyone reckons that many of the councillors are working for residents then you’ve got rocks in your head. Magee started the ball rolling by calling on council to write to valuer general auditor general and so on in March. Pilling and Okotel voted against the motion and Okotel’s reasons were that it would jeopardise council’s relationship with the mrc. Bullshit because Delahunty then asked which councillors had been lobbied by the Esakoff, Hyams and Lipshutz. Okotel got Newton’s advice by leaving the meeting. The motion got through no thanks to these traitors who are in the mrcs pockets.
September 18, 2014 at 9:10 PM
Won’t stop them spinning the bullshit about how they have always vigorously supports the motion.
September 18, 2014 at 8:15 PM
hope govt also checks out GERA submission to auditor it has even more detail.
Click to access gera-submission.pdf
September 20, 2014 at 9:09 PM
And I quote from the Auditor General’s Report
“Many of the issues identified in my report cannot be effectively remedied until governance practices are brought into alignment with contemporary public sector standards. The current legal framework for the establishment and management of the reserve is dated and does not clearly identify the trustee’s functions, responsibilities or accountabilities. By comparison, the Melbourne Cricket Ground Trust and the Melbourne and Olympic Parks Trust have enabling legislation that clearly articulates these critical aspects of governance for the respective trusts. A similar approach could be used to make the Caulfield trust subject to the same contemporary standards of governance and reporting.”
September 20, 2014 at 11:24 PM
Will be very interested to see if the Auditor General’s report is on the agenda for discussion at the next GE council meeting. Magee should insist that it is.
September 20, 2014 at 11:32 PM
It is on the agenda.