After years and years of cow towing to the MRC and well after the fact of the Caulfield Village machinations, Cr Lipshutz is now on the side of the angels. Yes, the MRC are ‘bullies’ and yes, the MRC are the tenants and should not be setting their own terms on leases. Well, if this isn’t a Johnny come lately approach we don’t know what is! Only problem is – where was this defiance and public advocacy five years ago?
More to the point is that on today’s Jon Faine program, Lipshutz announced that Council was not opposed to racing and didn’t want training to go from the course! The removal of training is part of the original agreement between council and the MRC. If this position has changed then:
- Where is the council resolution ratifying such a change in position?
- If no resolution has been passed then what right does Lipshutz have to make such statements?
- Or, is all of this again, decision making behind closed doors?
We present below the once lost, but now miraculously found, minutes of a 2008 Trustee meeting where readers will find that the issue of the removal of training was discussed and then subsequently endorsed by council resolution. The full document is then uploaded HERE.
PS: FOR SOME MORE INTERESTING READING, HERE ARE SOME SNAPSHOTS FROM THE MRC’S 2014 ANNUAL REPORT. Please note the reference to Symons as paying ‘commercial rates’ for the training facitilities and for his ‘membership’ of the group but of course, no ‘conflict of interest’ according to our previous post on the Sword claims. The full Annual Report is available from: http://mrc.uberflip.com/i/393091
AND THE PROFIT EXPECTED FROM CAULFIELD VILLAGE!
Glen Eira Debates 
October 23, 2014 at 2:52 PM
It’s a can of worms, that needs untangling by the highest levels possible, meanwhile the Trustees should be suspended, and all business put on hold until this mess is soughed. This would bring some transparency into the processes.
October 23, 2014 at 3:31 PM
Ever since the topic of removing training came up and there was a furious backlash from trainers and the Melbourne Racing Club, council has very quietly acquiesced and pretended that the issue doesn’t exist. Now we’ve got Lipshutz coming out and giving it his endorsement. I think it’s right that the post should be questioning what is council’s official position and whether it’s changed over the last year or so. If it has then how about letting residents in on the secret. If it hasn’t then Lipshutz should keep his mouth closed.
October 23, 2014 at 7:13 PM
Thank you for reminding us of this reaction. We’ve done a quick search and come up with the following links that show:
1. Council’s CURRENT position
2. The overall racing reaction
We repeat – this resolution still stands! It has not been rescinded, adapted, affirmed – just simply forgotten. So now we have Lipshutz presenting an entirely different view! Whether such a view has been ‘endorsed’ by council, or he is simply taking matters into his own hands, is anyone’s guess. Whichever, it is definitely not kosher by any standards of good governance and certainly does not serve the community!
See the following –
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/central/melbourne-racing-club-and-trainers-vent-on-glen-eira-councils-plans-for-caulfield-racecourse/story-fngnvlpt-1226602282609
http://www.racenet.com.au/news/88481/Council-in-another-bid-to-end-training-at-Caulfield
http://www.racingnetwork.com.au/training-to-stay-at-caulfield–mrc-chairman/tabid/83/newsid/12244/default.aspx
http://www.thoroughbrednews.com.au/spring-racing/default.aspx?id=65506
October 23, 2014 at 4:08 PM
A dubious landswap gives the MRC a $100m. Council does somersaults to facilitate the permit and then cries wolf.
October 23, 2014 at 5:01 PM
Put your vote where your ‘mouth’ is. Keep politicians honest and on their toes. Vote against David Southwick, he promised to change the trustees composition. Vote against Elizabeth Miller, she put this ‘mob’ in power. But Libs did not deliver for Glen Eira issues: planning with zones, open space, racecourse, and level crossings. Vote for those that promise and deliver for residents of Glen Eira, in particular the sore revolting MRC racecourse issue.
Mosy importantly, stir like hell to get what you want politicians to do for you.
October 23, 2014 at 11:08 PM
“stir like hell” is spot on, sue pennicuik stood up for residents in relation to the racecourse issues, she was instrumental in getting the ball rolling, vote for her in the upper house, she put Glen Eira residents before politics
October 24, 2014 at 1:56 PM
Whatever work Ms Penniculk did in relation to the race track amounted to nothing. She did provide a lot of people with false hope. Well meaning but powerless.
October 23, 2014 at 5:09 PM
Council’s position concerning Caulfield Racecourse Reserve was established by Council Resolution on 19 Mar 2013. The Minutes say the decision was unanimous. With respect to horse training, it says: ‘Training of horses on a commercial basis is not one of the purposes for which the Crown Land is reserved. Providing a “Public Recreation Ground and Public Park” takes precedence over the training of horses. To the extent that training prejudices the provision of public recreation ground and public park, training should be phased out.’
It should be very clear that training does prejudice the non-racing purposes of the Grant. It limits accessibility, has required the installation of physical barriers, in some places up to 13 of them in a row, and consumes a huge amount of land that is then useless for public recreation ground and public park.
While I don’t know what Cr Lipshutz actually said, he does have an obligation under the widely-ignored Councillors’ Code of Conduct to avoid “statements…or actions that will or are likely to mislead or deceive” and that “information concerning adopted policies, procedures and decisions of the Council must be communicated accurately”.
If he claimed that Council doesn’t want training to go from the course then that would appear to be misleading and inaccurate.
October 23, 2014 at 6:56 PM
I heard him and he definitely said he did not want either the racecourse of training to go which is totally contrary to Council’s policy.
Contrary to the claims of the MRC, training is not essential to a racecourse. Horse training is undeniably a commercial operation and as such they should be paying full commercial rates for the use of the land. They don’t, they don’t pay anything for the training tracks on the land that is designated for public usage. The Auditor General’s report makes this abundantly clear – racing has claimed exclusive use of public land that it has no legal entitlement to.
October 23, 2014 at 7:29 PM
I also heard him say training could stay. But I doubt he thinks he has breached Council Policy, primarily because he believes he is Council and can whatever, whenever. Come to any Council Meeting and you will see instance after instance of it.
October 23, 2014 at 7:02 PM
God help us. The gang and Newton as “saviours” of Glen Eira. Get rid of these stooges now.
October 23, 2014 at 11:43 PM
Is it possible that Southwick, Hayms, Lipshutz and possibly Esacoff are jockeying for the centre of the racecourse to become a Maccabee sports centre, with a brand spanking new club house built next to the tunnel entrance, all payed for by the millions set aside from the landswap deal.
October 27, 2014 at 5:04 PM
no more buildings on green grass!!!!!!!!!!!!!