Revolt leaves Rosehill Racecourse ‘mini-city’ deal on life support

The multibillion-dollar deal to build a new “mini-city” of 25,000 homes at Rosehill Racecourse is on the edge of collapse after opponents of the plan launched a dramatic bid to have Australian Turf Club chairman Peter McGauran removed from the board before a vote on the proposal.

A petition seeking an emergency meeting to vote on McGauran’s potential removal as ATC chairman was lodged late last week by Save Rosehill, the group campaigning against the mooted redevelopment of the course whose members include high-profile trainers Gai Waterhouse and Chris Waller.

Peter McGauran flanked Premier Chris Minns at the announcement of the plan in December 2023.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

The petition – lodged after the group received the 5 per cent of ATC member signatures required to force an emergency general meeting – is the latest flashpoint in a bitter internal stoush that has dogged the ATC since plans to redevelop Rosehill were announced by Premier Chris Minns and McGauran in 2023.

As ATC chair, McGauran has been the most prominent backer of the plan to end racing at Rosehill, and his removal would mark a major blow to the Minns government’s push to boost Sydney’s housing supply amid an affordability crisis that has stoked fears of an exodus of young people from the city.

The organisation has been seeking legal advice on the petition and, after a board meeting on Tuesday night, was still yet to decide on how it would respond.

“The ATC received a request for an [emergency general meeting] in relation to the chairman’s position,” a spokesman said.

“The club is currently working through the legal status of that request and the material, and as such, won’t be making further comment at this stage.”

The proposed redevelopment of Rosehill Racecourse – which is a short drive from the Parramatta CBD – into a major housing development, along with a new station on the Metro West line, was touted by Minns as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to significantly boost housing supply in the long term.

Minns has previously made it clear that plans for an additional metro station at Rosehill were contingent on the ATC agreeing to develop the land.

But the end of racing at the historic western Sydney track has bitterly divided members of the ATC, which owns the course.

Opponents of the move have criticised a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the ATC and the Minns government, which, as the Herald has previously revealed, was hatched in a matter of weeks after a meeting between Minns and Steve McMahon, an official at the club who is also a close friend of the premier.

High-profile ATC members – including the ATC’s vice chair Tim Hale – have raised significant doubts over the mooted $5 billion price tag for the course, leading to a public falling-out between him and McGauran.

A parliamentary inquiry last year found there was “conflicting evidence and uncertainty” over the financial benefits of the deal, while doubts have been raised over proposals for a replacement racetrack near Sydney Olympic Park due to environmental constraints.

But former ATC board member Julia Ritchie, now a spokeswoman for Save Rosehill, said the membership had lost trust in the club’s leadership.

“There is overwhelming evidence that the best interests of members and the wider racing industry can only be served by a change in leadership at the ATC and the board withdrawing from this highly flawed, controversial and biased process,” she said.

“The club must regain control of our own destiny and end this charade now. Members can have no faith that any proposal emerging from this MOU process, concerning either the potential revenue the club would receive or the viability of an alternative to Rosehill Gardens in metropolitan Sydney, will have any foundation in reality, and that is why the process should be halted now.”

The timing of the petition is likely to be critical.

The ATC has been working behind the scenes to prepare a case for the sale to be presented to members in April, including plans for an alternative course to replace Rosehill.

Members are due to vote on the deal on April 3. Opponents of the sale are confident they will have the numbers to secure McGauran’s removal, and a vote on his fate could fall at around the same time or slightly earlier than the April meeting.

In board elections held in November, candidates backed by opponents of the Rosehill redevelopment received by far the largest share of member votes.

If a vote to remove McGauran was successful, a reconstituted board could delay or even scrap the Rosehill proposal entirely.

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