'Extremely disappointing' - Peter McGauran on Rosehill decision
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The big news of the day is the decision by the members of the ATC to vote against the deal to sell off Rose Hill Gardens racecourse. This would have seen the state government spend $5 billion over the course of about 10 years to redevelop the land for 25,000 homes. The vote has been unsuccessful, so 56% voted no, 44% voted yes. And there were more people at the meeting that had been expected. The chairman of the ATC is Peter McGoran. Thank you for joining us, Peter.

A pleasure, Clinton. Are you disappointed this afternoon? Yes, of course. I believe it was the best thing for the club, for racing and for the community. That being the case, and you were looking to generate $5 billion, is the future, the financial future of racing New South Wales now in jeopardy because you won't have that $5 billion cash injection?

Certainly the ATC is. I can't speak for Racing NSW. That's Peter Volandes. So just interrupt. The ATC is in financial jeopardy. Oh, no, no. We'll always be viable, Clinton, but we've only ever got our nose above water. And, oh, no, we run a great club, as anyone who's attended Randwick or Rose Hill would know. But we're never going to be able to upgrade our facilities. What...

members and public enjoy at the moment. They'll be enjoying that in 20 years. We have no funding which requires hundreds of millions of dollars, given we own four racetracks, three training centres to upgrade. So that's the challenge that what is already quickly becoming a niche sport will become an even smaller sport because we don't offer a modern value offering

to members or general public. We've lost 25% of our membership since 2019, and Rose Hill has lost a half of its attendances over 10 years. That's a fairly dire prospect then. So that being the case, is this completely off the agenda, or is there another way you could revisit the plan to sell Rose Hill?

No, it's off the agenda. It was an all or nothing offer because the two drills digging the metro begin to hit at Rose Hill Gardens in the next few weeks. So the opportunity for a metro to construct a metro station is lost. You can't put in a metro station once the line is completed.

But the government still could develop 25,000 homes without a metro in the future. It's not good, but they could do it. It would have to acquire the land, and Chris Minns, and I believe him, will never do that. He said it privately and publicly. So long as he's Premier, there will not be a compulsory acquisition. Okay, to shore up the finances of the ATC and the strength of racing going forward in New South Wales, could you sell off other assets? Could you sell off Warwick Farm, for instance?

No, Warwick Farm, because it's one of our training centres with some 850 horses. We couldn't do that. Canterbury, Canterbury is a possibility, but planning is complex there. It's not a sympathetic or involved council, to put it mildly. And the return was...

You know, a few hundred million dollars, not to be sneezed at, would be welcome. That's basically a band-aid. We needed significant funding to completely reinvigorate and revitalise all of our major assets. But if you need that, Peter, and this has been knocked over and selling off Canterbury is just a band-aid, what are you going to do to reinvigorate racing?

Well, Canterbury is a possibility and through the process, Clinton, a lot of members who are opposed to the sale of Rose Hill are not opposed to the sale of Canterbury. But that could be a long process. Council have a very different concept for that area. They want lower buildings. They want more open space. You're not going to gain what you really need. But sure, if you're really desperate... But you could look at it. You could look at it now. You could look at it, yeah. Yeah.

I spoke with Gay Waterhouse and obviously she's been an opponent of this campaign for some time. She says you should resign. Will you stay in your position? Yes, I'm not going to resign for a couple of reasons. First, I would have been in breach of my fiduciary responsibilities if I had not brought this proposal to members. It wasn't for me to say, oh...

I've decided it's, Rose Hill's too sentimental. It's of too much value to the racing participants. I'm not even going to put this proposal. All seven directors voted when they were first told about this in December 2023 to put a proposal to members. Now, recently, four of the seven directors supported the actual proposal that was voted on.

and the resolution by members. So I'm a servant of the board. The board might replace me, but I'm not going to stand aside. So those proposals for free membership for the lifetime members, free membership for five years, the $1,000 behind the bar at restaurants and food outlets per year for five years, it's all off the table now.

Yep, it's off the table and the renovation of the members' facilities at Randwick and Warwick Farm are off the table. The upgrade of the stables at Warwick Farm and at Randwick are off the table. Look, I can't hide my disappointment, Clinton. This was a chance once in a lifetime because of a metro station that will now evaporate to revolutionise in a way...

Every other race club in the world would give their right arm to be able to do. I know you're the public face. This is the chairman of the ATC. But as you know,

The leader of the Racing NSW organisation, Peter Volandes, is very effective. He usually wins in the end. Do you think there's a way that Mr... And he was very supportive of this proposal. Do you think there is a way that Mr Volandes can get his way through another means? No. He accepts the members' vote, as I do. There's no legal way to do it. Because remember, the ATC is governed by the Registered Clubs Act, and that requires a vote of members for the dispersal of land. So, no. Um...

It's the status quo and all the challenges that brings. That is going to bring challenges for sure. Thank you for your time, Peter. Thanks, Clinton. Peter McGoran, who's the chairman of the ATC. So there we have it. It's over. We are now told it's over. Chris Minns says there'll be no compulsory acquisition of Rose Hill Gardens. So there'll be no 25,000 homes at Rose Hill.