A Green motion to phase out the ACT Government’s funding for the Canberra horseracing industry, more than $41 million over the next five years, failed in the Legislative Assembly yesterday, but the government intends the industry will be less reliant on public funding.
Under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), the ACT Government will pay $41,144,000 to the Canberra Racing Club (at Thoroughbred Park) and the Canberra Harness Racing Club (at EPIC) over the next five years, the 2022–23 ACT Budget stated.
When it sold ACTTAB to Tabcorp for $105.5 million in a 50-year deal in 2014, the government promised to fund local racing by $8 million a year.
The Greens, however, do not support public funding for horseracing, and do not consider this money spent in the public interest.
Jo Clay MLA proposed phasing out public funds to the industry by 20 per cent each year over the next five years. This year, her amendment would return 20 per cent ($1.6 million) of what was budgeted for this year, leaving at least $6 million to horseracing this year. Next year, her amendment would phase out 20 per cent.
“A sudden cut will affect the workers and the animals,” she said. “But it is not up to government to prop up a failing business model forever.”
This was the first time the Greens moved an amendment to an ACT Government Budget in the Assembly since shared government.
“Three in four Canberrans do not think this money is in the public interest,” Ms Clay said. “They think that the social licence for horse racing has run out, and they do not understand why we keep handing over millions of dollars year on year.”
The Canberra horseracing industry gets more than the Brumbies ($1.8 million each year), Raiders ($2.6 million each year), Capitals and Canberra Union ($1.6 million over four years) combined; 177 times more than Amp It Up! Recipients ($45,000); and 800 times as much as community sports, Ms Clay noted.
“Why do they get so much more? I cannot tell you. I do not think it is because they are more important. Most Canberrans cannot remember the name of a single local racehorse, but I bet every single person who lives here could name one local sports team or one local artist.”
Ms Clay estimated that more than $100 million of taxpayer funds have been spent or pledged to the racing industry since 2013, without any public scrutiny. (The 2013 and 2017 MOUs have not been made public.)
“The horseracing industry has been given three five-year MOUs – 15-years,” Ms Clay said. “This is incredibly generous. They have not used this time and this $100 million to become a self-sufficient industry. They have simply asked for more public funding and for endless public funding.”
The ACT Government, she said, collects less than $250,000 in wagering tax on ACT horseracing each year, but gave $8 million each year.
Thoroughbred Park is half-funded by the ACT Government, Ms Clay remarked; last year, their total revenue was $12.5 million, and the received ACT government distribution funds of $6.6 million.
“Canberrans understand that we publicly fund schools, hospitals, housing, and the environment, but why are we publicly funding a racecourse? How is this racecourse a public service?”
In 2011, the Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission said the industry should be self-sufficient, Ms Clay noted.
“The horseracing industry has had enough time to diversify its income. It is not the job of Government to prop up a failing business model indefinitely, particularly one that delivers such a questionable public benefit.”
Both ACT Labor and the Canberra Liberals voted down Ms Clay’s motion.
Chris Steel, ACT Minister for Transport and City Services, stated that the ACT Government provided funding certainty for horseracing through the MOU. At the 2020 election, Labor promised to negotiate a new MOU to better regulate and manage the industry.
The new MOU was signed on 1 July; under it, the government agreed to provide funding every year until June 2027: $7.946 million for the first year, increasing each year.
Under the new MOU, the clubs agree to meet expectations around animal welfare, integrity, viability, accountability, and efficiency. They must notify the government of integrity-related complaints or breaches within 30 days (including corruption, consorting, cheating, horse doping, race fixing, and extortion). They must adhere to Australian and ACT rules of racing.
Clubs must develop new income streams to support sustainability and their longevity. They must also fund an independent economic impact report in the first and fourth years of the MOU term to measure the economic impact the industries have on the ACT. These reports will inform whether the level of funding is appropriate.
“The strengthened frameworks and ongoing commitments under the MOU ensure that Canberra’s local racing industry is being well managed, well regulated, and sustainable,” Mr Steel said. “We recognise that the Canberra community has high expectations for safe and well-regulated racing in return for this public investment. That is why we have moved to provide these additional requirements as part of the MOU.”
Mark Parton, Shadow Minister for Gaming and Racing, said Ms Clay’s motion was an attack on horse racing.
“At a time when this government’s coffers are being bolstered enormously by the point of consumption gaming tax, a tax which has just been severely increased by this government, it’s ludicrous to suggest that some of that money should not be distributed back to the racing codes.
- Mark Parton: Return revenue to racing (3 August)
“The Greens have a vision of how all of us should live, they have a vision of the pastimes that we should enjoy and of the way that we should go about our lives. They wish to stop the rest of us doing the things that give us joy, if those things don’t align with their values.
“The vast majority of those involved in the racing industry in this town are minimum wage battlers. They’re salt of the earth people who often are working a number of jobs to try to pay the rent and put food on the table.
“These are the people who would be most hurt by this line of spending being struck out of the budget.”
Ms Clay said she was disappointed. “What did Canberra get for this $100 million? How is this public money being spent in the public interest?”
Chief Minister Andrew Barr stated that the pathway forward was to make the industry less reliant on public funding through better use of land endowment. The Racing Club proposes to renew its facility and surrender some of its land for alternate purposes that would both generate revenue for the Racing Club and potentially provide land for housing within that precinct.
“That is the only viable pathway forward to reduce the industry’s reliance on public funding, and to ensure that it has a stable revenue stream into the future,” Mr Barr said.
Ms Clay said she was pleased to hear the announcement.
