After the joy and froth of the Melbourne Cup carnival – the cold hard reality of the Victorian Racing Club annual report.
The Age has already reported on the heavy VRC losses contained in the report, which takes in the previous financial year and 2023 Cup Carnival, which cost $65 million to stage with no government help.
VRC chairman Neil Wilson (Lexus not pictured).Credit: Wayne Taylor
It noted that the VRC lost $12.86 million on members’ services and administration, while losing $3.6 million on “catering, dining, hospitality and events”.
And all while the VRC has 34,240 members – an “all-time membership record”. Curious? Well, it turns out only 25,078 were full members – with young members, Phar Lap club members, junior members and absentee members, presumably paying less, making up the rest.
There was a certain opaqueness to how much the VRC spent on its concert program or the global Cup tour, which lugs the trophy to 39 destinations across six countries.
But there was no hiding the wages bill of key management personnel. It soared by $1 million to $4.65 million, compared with $3.63 million the previous financial year. And that’s before Kylie Rogers was welcomed aboard as chief executive, taking over from Steve Rosich.
Also on the team are 10 executive general managers’ allowances, payments for accrued annual and long service leave, and post-employment benefits in the form of superannuation.
Rogers told CBD the club was not immune to rising costs and the need to provide value for money.
“The club also remained committed to increased year-on-year capital expenditure to ensure Flemington remained Australia’s premier racing facility,” she said, noting the new sponsorship deals and media rights deals (with Nine, publisher of this masthead) for this year’s Melbourne Cup Carnival was “expected to underpin improvement in profitability across the medium term”.
Members of the board don’t get a salary but benefits, reimbursements and travel allowances.
The best benefit appears to be that allocated to VRC chairman Neil Wilson. He gets a free Lexus courtesy of the car brand, which is the Cup carnival’s principal partner.
The report said the car came as part of its sponsorship deal: “The board approved the continued use of a Lexus vehicle, including operating costs, to Neil Wilson as a benefit of the role of Chairman. Mr Wilson contributes towards the Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) in relation to this vehicle.”
And it might not be the only Lexus that the company provides on loan. A spokeswoman for Lexus said the company was “proud to sponsor Australia’s most iconic cultural and sporting event. Details of all Lexus sponsorships remain commercial in confidence”.
MAGA moment
CBD is loath to join the punditocracy in musing about what the victory of US President-elect Donald Trump means for Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.
There has been more than enough written by the escape-to-Bluesky crew without us adding our two cents worth, we decided. Or rather, had decided. Now, however, needs must.
CBD was alerted to a fundraiser in Canberra on Monday night attended by Dutton at the smart Barton restaurant Chairman and Yip (“Canberra’s best pan-Asian Cantonese”, hardly Trumpian).
Alongside the opposition leader were shadow treasurer Angus Taylor and junior shadow minister and Dutton fanboy Luke Howarth.
A passer-by was intrigued to note that the gang inside were conducting a fundraiser by auctioning MAGA hats. But not the MAGA hats you’re thinking of.
Instead of Make America Great Again, the hats had a neat local spin that is sure to become a thing as election 2025 fast approaches.
Emblazoned on the US-style baseball caps was a pertinent local slogan in keeping with the MAGA acronym – Make Albo Go Away. Intrigued, we checked in with the opposition, but didn’t hear back.
Comeback King
Could CBD favourite Srechko “Stretch” Kontelj be any more back?
The former mayor and deputy mayor of the Greater Geelong Council is well and truly the “Lazarus with a triple bypass” Comeback Kid, to mix our John Howard and Bill Clinton political metaphors, after he was elected mayor on Tuesday night, a mere 22 years after his last stint as mayor.
As we previously reported when he nominated for election back in September: Kontelj spent 18 years as a councillor at the council, before resigning in 2015 and relocating to the Channel Island of Guernsey, where he served as group legal director for Specsavers – a life change that even people who use the company’s products did not see coming.
The following year, the state government sacked the entire council, led by former paparazzo Darryn Lyons. A report found the council was “riven with conflict” plus a “deep-seated culture of bullying”, and that “good governance had broken down”.
Old/new Geelong mayor Stretch Kontelj.Credit: Facebook
Kontelj and his brother Eddy attempted a council comeback in 2020, but in a tactical error split their vote by running in the same ward. And the whole thing was a bust.
This time, the brothers ran in adjacent single-member wards, and it paid off. Kontelj was elected in Kardinia ward, besting the incumbent who replaced him when he “retired”, Peter Murrihy.
Eddy, who has twice broken the world record for the longest static cycling marathon, triumphed in the neighbouring ward of Hamlyn Heights.
Kontelj told us his No.1 priority was fixing the “decaying CBD”. Rude, we thought, until we realised he was referring to Geelong’s central urban zone, which he said had fallen behind the regeneration of the waterfront and cultural precinct.
Once we recovered our composure, we praised him as being the comeback kid.
“I guess I did a mini-Trump comeback in Geelong,” he joked.
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