The Sauce: Forget Rosehill, why isn’t Canterbury racecourse for sale?
The plan to develop Rosehill Racecourse has raised eyebrows in state parliament — because everyone assumed Canterbury Park Raceourse made more sense. Read why in The Sauce.
NSW
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The decision by the Australian Turf Club (ATC) to sell historic Rosehill Racecourse for a new “super city” has shocked not just punters and trainers, but also raised the eyebrows of several former Coalition government ministers.
According to the ex-ministers, Rosehill had never once been on the agenda — formally or informally — with Canterbury Park Racecourse always in the frame as one day being potentially sold and redeveloped.
So concerned at this prospect was Canterbury MP Sophie Cotsis that she introduced a bill to parliament in a bid to block a proposal to modify a carpark at the inner-west track to enable residential development.
In a Facebook post at the time, she wrote how the community had already suffered from overdevelopment.
“I support the racing, events, hospitality and open space,” the Labor MP wrote. “What I do NOT support is further residential development. Our community has already suffered a lot with overdevelopment, we cannot afford to lose any more open space.”
The Cotsis bill was designed to extend the 10-year moratorium in place to prevent the sale of the ATC-owned racetrack for another five years.
Her inner west neighbour — Summer Hill MP Jo Haylen —— shared the sentiment, telling parliament at the time that the racecourse had become “something rare” among the increasingly developed Sydney, with “35 hectares of precious open, green space”.
At the time, Mirvac had partnered with the ATC to develop a 1.28ha site next to the track — a move Haylen said was “the thin edge of the wedge” for further development on the racecourse.
“The ATC has submitted a development application to rezone the carpark on the corner of Princess and King streets as a surplus to needs for the ever-popular night racing at the track,” she said.
“While it might seem inconsequential, the community knows that this is the thin edge of the wedge for high-rise development at Canterbury Racecourse.
“We cannot allow it to be sold off piece by piece to developers.”
One Liberal source said cash flow problems for the ATC followed the deregulation of wagering, with all the money going to Racing NSW rather than the clubs.
The source said they’d put money on Canterbury having been floated with the Minns government first before Rosehill was landed upon.
“I’d put Winx, Black Caviar odds on Canterbury being floated first,” the source said — a claim immediately denied by a government source who declared Rosehill was only ever on the table and considered due to the Metro station.
Independent MP and ATC member Mark Latham said Canterbury still made better sense given it had no trainers — Gai Waterhouse was among those slamming the Rosehill plan — and questioned why it wasn’t on the table.
“As an ATC member, all I received last night was a series of dot points. It needs a lot more detail,” he said of the Rosehill plan.
“I strongly support a Warwick Farm redevelopment, but we need to see what it involves – concept plans, costings.
“If a course were to be sold, Canterbury makes better sense as it has no trainers. Why isn’t that on the table? It would be palatable to the racing community for sure.”
DIARY FAIL
There was no stopping state and federal pollies when it came to finding a way to attend the recent Matildas matches at the World Cup. So one has to feel a bit sorry for the Socceroos last week when at least one pollie was a no-show to their press conference to announce the team would be playing Lebanon in Sydney next year.
The Sauce hears the Special Minister of State, Minister for Roads, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Music and the Night-time Economy, and Minister for Jobs and Tourism John Graham had been scheduled to be at the event.
And while Graham has to date managed to successfully juggle the diary demands of all of his portfolios, cracks emerged after the Rozelle interchange went into meltdown.
The Sauce was told staff had decided earlier that Graham would not be able to make the presser as he would be at a briefing with Transport co-ordinator general Howard Collins.
The event was taken out of the diary but no one passed on his apologies.
It was only after one of Graham’s staff received an SMS from an organiser asking “Is the minister far away?” that the error was realised.
“It was a heart attack moment,” the staffer said.
Profuse apologies were immediately in order, with Graham no doubt putting someone else in charge of the diary.
CHRISTMAS SNUB
All appears not to be well among the Liberal members on Sydney’s northern beaches, with one branch member lamenting to The Sauce last week how local party meetings had become “more painful than a trip to the dentist”.
The comment came after The Sauce inquired why a Christmas dinner planned for Wakehurst members at the local Dee Why Chinese restaurant last week had been cancelled.
Wakehurst SEC secretary Mark Pryke wrote in an email that the dinner was cancelled due to the time of year and it being difficult to get everyone together.
However, the branch member — who spoke on the condition of anonymity — said it was just another sign of the disillusionment among members within the party.
The Liberals lost the seat of Wakehurst at the last state election to independent MP Michael Regan after it was held for more than 30 years by long-serving ex-minister Brad Hazzard. “Local branches are crying out for local leaders,” the branch member said.
“They want people who seem at home on the hill at Brookie, not the current crop who are clearly more comfortable in the members stand at Randwick,” the member said.
Local party members said many of the branches “emptied out” after “the harsh treatment of Tony Abbott”.
Members were avoiding local party meetings “because they have become more painful than a trip to the dentist,” the source said.
“People want real solutions on how to feed their families and pay their bills, not hear would-be candidates wax lyrical for hours about gender theory,” the source said.
“No one wants to attend local meetings because they’re run like the Soviet Politburo, branch members are only there as props to legitimise whatever the party princelings agreed on ahead of any votes being cast.”
DOM & DAN
Former Victorian premier Dan Andrews appears to be the butt of all jokes at political Christmas parties, with even Premier Chris Minns having a crack last week.
At the NSW Labor end-of-year drinks, Minns referenced The Sauce item about Andrews possibly sounding out former Liberal leader Dominic Perrottet about setting up a joint consultancy.
Minns suggested Andrews might struggle with the branding. “They’d list the consultancy in NSW as ‘Dominic Perrottet and Associates’,” he said.
“But in Andrews’ home state of Victoria, they’d list it as … Dominic Perrottet and Associates.”
Minns raised Andrews again in a short speech to journalists gathered for Christmas drinks on Friday, saying he had a bunch of jokes about the ex-Labor leader only to declare he’d forgotten them.
Got some Sauce? Email linda.filmalis@news.com.au
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