Community 'absolutely doesn't want this': Opera House chief on Racing NSW proposal

The chief executive of the Sydney Opera House, Louise Herron, says she has received an “outpouring of support” for her organisation’s resistance to Racing NSW’s demands to project horse names and barrier numbers onto the sails of the famous structure – but that plan might still proceed if it wins the Berejiklian government’s support.

Ms Herron faced an extremely hostile radio interview with 2GB’s Alan Jones on Friday morning, in which the shock jock said she should be sacked for opposing Racing NSW’s plan to use the Opera House to promote the draw for the $10 million Everest horse race.

But Jones' and Racing NSW’s views are not held by the vast majority of those who contacted Ms Herron and her organisation subsequent to that interview.

An image from the Racing NSW submission to the Opera House.

“The community regards the Opera House as its asset to be treated with respect, to be treated as the treasure it is,” Ms Herron told the Herald.

“The accusation that this is in any way elitist is just so wrong, because the response is from the community. The racing community is a small part of the community… but does it get to dictate something to the rest of the community … when the rest of the community is saying ‘we absolutely don’t want this?’”

Under a policy adopted by the Opera House in 2012, no identifying logos are to be projected onto the structure’s sails, while there are also strict limits on the number of occasions the sails can be used to mark events.

But the government retains the power to make directions to the Opera House. When logos have been projected onto the Opera House in the past – for instance, for the Wallabies rugby team or to mark Australia’s Ashes victory – this has been done under direction.

Ms Herron said it was important to maintain such a policy. “What that means is when people come along and say ‘I want to advertise Chicken Tonight on the sails,’ we can hold firm because we never approve that,” the chief executive said.

The Opera House’ status as a World Heritage item accentuated the need to respect its status, she said.

“If we said yes to this, ‘we’re fine put the Everest logo on there' our policy is worthless to us, we’re just going to allow whoever comes along to use the Opera House as a billboard,’ we would lose our World Heritage status,” Ms Herron said.

Alan Jones and Louise Herron have butted heads on air over the promotion of the Everest horse race on the sails of the Sydney Opera House. Credit: Fairfax Media

“We would be seen in the global community as not respecting this jewel, this masterpiece of human creative genius that is the greatest building of the 20th Century.”

Ms Herron, appointed to the position in 2012, said the government’s enthusiasm to promote the Everest horse race meant that the Opera House had been looking to come to a compromise. She was happy to have the racing colours of the jockeys projected onto the sails.

“The government wants something to happen. Something will happen, I have no doubt. At the very least the colours will go up. And that’s fine.”

But the government could also direct the Opera House to include more detail in the projections, as desired by Racing NSW. “We will support the government’s position… as we always do.”

With the race to be held on Saturday, October 13, there is an urgent need for a decision either way.

The chief executive of Racing NSW, Peter V’Landys told 2GB that merely projecting racing colours onto the Opera House would not be good enough.

"You can't do a barrier draw without putting the horses' name and the number," Mr V'landys said. "That's the whole idea of the promotion ... to beam that around the world."

Racing NSW’s proposal, obtained by the Herald, includes projecting a list of runners onto one sail, while the horses selected in the barrier draw would be promoted on another sail.

Asked what she thought of the proposal, Ms Herron laughed. “Well what can you say? Just so inappropriate.”

The Sydney Opera House during Vivid earlier this year. Credit: Brook Mitchell

Opposition leader Luke Foley supports the Racing NSW plan, and Federal Labor MP Anthony Albanese phoned into ABC Radio on Friday morning to say he supported the plan as well.

“People should chill out a bit,” Mr Albanese said. “The fact is that this race is beamed around the world. People do associate Sydney with the Sydney Opera House.”

At the conclusion of his interview on Friday, Jones told Ms Herron he would be talking to the Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, within five minutes and that if Ms Herron did not come to the party she should “lose your job."

But Ms Herron said she had received a lot of support from the government since that interview.

“I feel very supported by the board, I feel very supported by the government, and I feel very supported by the community. I wouldn’t feel that supported by Alan Jones, but by the rest I certainly do.”

Neither Ms Berejiklian nor the Arts Minister Don Harwin have responded to requests for comment.