Racing Reform Group meets with Hazzard over Thoroughbred Act reform

Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything

The Racing Reform Group (RRG), made up of a number of the New South Wales industry’s key players, recently met with the Hon Brad Hazzard as part of the former health minister’s independent review of the Thoroughbred Racing Act of 1996. The group’s 40-page submission document spurred Hazzard on to invite the group to a consultation hearing.

RRG meets with Hazzard

A thorough review of the Thoroughbred Racing Act of 1996 was launched earlier this year as a response to recommendations from the Rosehill parliamentary inquiry. An open consultation period began in October, inviting industry participants to make submissions to the review panel, led by Hazzard.

During the open consultation period for the Act’s review, Hazzard - who was appointed by Premier Chris Minns to lead a review into the Act which dictates how racing in New South Wales is administered - met with numerous stakeholder groups, as well as receiving written submissions.

RRG launched a campaign to encourage industry submissions and prepared a parliamentary petition calling for the expansion of the Hazzard review’s scope to include funding and government relations. The group was particularly concerned that the review's parameters would not cover the industry's funding model.

The petition was launched in late November on the parliamentary website; parliamentary e-petitions are open for signatures for four weeks, after which they are presented to the House of Representatives by the Petitions Committee Chair. A minister is then required to respond to the petition, typically within 90 days of presentation.

“The reason why we formed this group was that we were disappointed that the terms of reference (of the Act review) did not include the funding model and the relationship between Government and Racing New South Wales,” said Attunga Stud’s Brian Nutt, also the secretary for RRG. “We strongly believe that the Act is not fit for purpose any more.”

The RRG’s own 40-page submission, which the RRG will be sharing on their website next week, attracted the attention of Hazzard.

“We thought we had a good hearing with Hazzard, he called for a meeting with us on the basis of our submission which he thought was very comprehensive,” said Nutt. The group met with Hazzard before making their submission, and attended a follow-up consultation session after Hazzard received the document. “We have confidence his recommendations are for the better of the industry.

“We also think it is very important that his report is made public for all to see and not watered down in any way.”

After the close of public submissions, Hazzard was to continue to makes consultations through December. The review is expected to be complete within the first half of 2026.

More oversight needed

The RRG’s submission makes 33 individual recommendations covering governance, sustainability, accountability, integrity, and welfare. Chief amongst governance recommendations is recognition that the current Act does not lay out any clear objectives for Racing New South Wales and only gives the principal racing authority a series of powers.

To counter this, the document describes a series of ways to ensure the PRA’s board is fit for purpose, proposing board term limits, a set skills matrix to ensure board members are appropriately experienced, and a review of the Act every five years at a minimum. The suggestions mirror the framework set up in the Greyhound Racing Act 2017 to govern the sport.

The submission also highlights several current issues with integrity and the intertwined relationship that the PRA’s integrity arm currently has with its commercial arm. It called for greater transparency into wagering income and funding expenditure by Racing NSW, with more detailed, transparent break-downs on the flow of money in and out of the governing body.

“There are various issues that we are concerned with, one is funding and another main one is the relationship between Racing New South Wales and the government,” Nutt said. “I think we have a situation, in terms of funding, where a lot of it is discretionary. We believe a written policy needs to be in place on how it is distributed to racing clubs, to welfare, etcetera.”

As part of this, the document also proposed the Racing NSW give more transparent break-downs of wagering to clubs and to better display where revenue for each club is coming from. It also called for more of the funding to be spent on infrastructure, in line with ideas detailed in Racing NSW’s recent Strategic Plans - such as the proposal to build a major training centre in the Sydney basin - and for more to be spent on sustaining and building the industry’s workforce.

“Racing New South Wales did start from much smaller beginnings with roughly 40 million (in revenue) annually,” Nutt said. “That is now roughly 10 times that amount, so it has gotten much bigger and changed significantly.”

Last year, Racing NSW Peter V’Landys was quoted as saying the PRA has “more than $300 million” in reserves while prizemoney, primarily funded through wagering revenue, for the state soared over $400 million.

It is the group’s hope that their recommendations will form a part of the foundation upon which Hazzard’s review recommendations are built, and they are pleased with the seriousness with which he has taken their submissions to date.

“Our aim is that we want all parts of the industry to come together and work together,” Nutt said. “We will make recommendations and hopefully we can get through this disconnect.

“We will be talking to the breeders on Monday morning, outlining why the Racing Reform Group was founded, who is included in the group, and outlining what our strategy is going forward.”

The RRG's submission will be available on their website early in the week.