Coalition reduced to a shambles over bill to extend Racing NSW chairman’s Russell Balding’s term

Liberal Leader Mark Speakman was slammed by colleagues for mishandling party room debate on whether to endorse a bill to extend Racing NSW chairman Russell Balding’s term.

The NSW Coalition was reduced to a disorganised rabble on Tuesday over a plan to extend Racing NSW Chairman Russell Balding’s term for two more years.

Liberal Leader Mark Speakman was on Tuesday slammed by colleagues for his poor leadership in managing the issue, after a day of chaos and confusion that multiple Coalition MPs labelled “insane”.

The opposition was still scrambling to finalise its position even as legislation to extend Mr Balding’s term was being debated in parliament, with MPs called to an emergency party room meeting at 7.30pm after a day of panic stations in the upper echelons of the Coalition.

At one point, Mr Speakman took the highly unusual step of kicking backbench MPs out of a regular Coalition meeting before parliament so Shadow Cabinet could decide their position – according to multiple sources in the room.

The Coalition party room ultimately agreed to support an extension to Mr Balding’s term, but only if Racing NSW was subjected to “stronger governance structures,” Mr Speakman said.

Liberal Leader Mark Speakman called an emergency party room meeting at 7.30pm on Tuesday. Picture: NCA NewsWire

But MPs opposing the amendments said they would paralyse Racing NSW by bringing it under the control of “brainless bureaucrats’’.

After heated debate, the emergency partyroom ended with the Coalition vowing to ultimately scuttle an extension to Mr Balding’s term if its amendments failed.

The Coalition failed to get its amendments debated in the lower house on a technicality.

Coalition Racing spokesman Kevin Anderson was criticised for his handling of the bill. Picture: NCA NewsWire

The Opposition ended up voting with the government to send the bill to the Upper House, where it will make another attempt at making Racing NSW subject to scrutiny from parliament and the Auditor General.

Earlier, Mr Speakman said that Racing NSW had “performed extraordinarily well” under Mr Balding.

“Mr Balding has been a very successful chairman, and we think it’s in the interests of the racing industry and the state generally for that to continue for a couple of years,” he said.

However, the Coalition wanted “stronger governance structures” put in place for the industry regulator, Mr Speakman said.

The Coalition planned sweeping amendments to Racing NSW’s governance and oversight.

Mr Speakman’s shambolic handling of the debate on Tuesday came after Shadow Cabinet failed to reach a unified position on Monday night, as revealed by The Daily Telegraph.

Multiple Liberal MPs on Tuesday night were incensed with how Mr Speakman and the leadership group bungled the issue.

Chairman of Racing NSW, Russell Balding. AAP Image

Racing spokesman Kevin Anderson was also heavily criticised by colleagues.

The Minns government needed to secure the Coalition’s vote to extend Mr Balding’s term until 2025, after influential crossbenchers vowed to vote against the move amid fierce lobbying from, in particular, the Thoroughbred Breeders Association.

Earlier, Mr Speakman and his leadership team had agreed on Tuesday morning that the Coalition would only support Mr Balding’s extensions if sweeping changes were imposed on Racing NSW, including making the body subject to scrutiny from the Auditor General.

The Coalition also wanted to make Racing NSW subject to scrutiny from parliament, a move which could force Racing NSW to produce internal documents if ordered by politicians.

Mr Speakman also suggested Racing NSW could be forced to attend budget estimates hearings.

The Coalition also planned to move an amendment to establish a statutory review of the legislation governing the body within the next six months.

Liberal elders Anthony Roberts and Ray Williams last week spoke out in favour of extending Mr Balding’s term.

Last week, Mr Roberts told the Telegraph that giving Mr Balding two more years was a “no brainer”.