HOW THE LIGHT APPEARED AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL

By Neville Bell | Thursday, July 16, 2015

The Brisbane Racing Club’s anguish and stake-holders all-around frustration at the on-going delays with regard to Phase 2 of the Eagle Farm Development Project has been well-documented. For too long the project was tied up by red tape, but with the promised $12 loan now finally approved and the Club taking on the authority to manage the project itself a whole new set of dynamics is in play. Neville Bell, the Chairman of the Brisbane Racing Club, tells HRO readers how it came about that we finally got to see some light at the end of the tunnel.

There was a collective sigh of relief, from not only the Brisbane Racing Club (BRC) but from the whole racing industry, when our $12 million loan was finally, officially approved by the Treasury.

What has happened since Stradbroke day, when the Premier came out to Doomben, has been very pleasing.

Until that time, the BRC had been mostly on the sidelines for 12 months as the former Government and the former Racing Queensland administration controlled the Eagle Farm redevelopment.

When it became clear this wasn’t progressing as hoped, the BRC tried to become involved. The new Premier and Racing Minister left the door ajar for the BRC to get more involved in the project, which we did.

Right from the outset I wanted it to be an outcome driven issue and, once they embraced the sort of rationale we had to get to, everything moved pretty quickly.

Things have been carried out in a great spirit of co-operation with senior officials in the government’s racing department. It has been an eye-opener and it has been a process that I’ve been pleased for the BRC to be involved in.

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There was a meeting last Wednesday week attended by government officials, BRC representatives and Racing Queensland representatives.

The Racing Minister wasn’t there. He was away at the time, as I was, but his Chief Of Staff was present at the meeting and he was very active in pulling it all together.

In fact the whole new process was really driven by the Minister and the Premier. They were unable to attend the meeting but they made it clear that they wanted a course of action so everyone in the room worked towards that.

The threat going into the meeting was nobody is leaving here until we come to some sort of conclusion of where we are going with this matter. So the riding instructions were basically, don’t leave the room until we’d decided on a course of action.

Ninety percent of the issues were sorted out on that day which was a good outcome. There was no high-fiving but we knew we were going in the right direction.

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Subsequently, there was a second meeting on the following Monday ... at which the BRC delegation presented our corporate financial model.

This was quite a complex model that was built by our CEO David Whimpey and one of our directors Simon Gleeson, who is an economist. David Whimpey is also an economist.

It was a demanding task but they were successfully able to present the financial model and articulate the ins and outs of the facts in their presentation in the manner that was required of them.

The government officials had already stated after that first Wednesday meeting that, all things being equal, they intended to have approval by the following Friday week ... in other words within ten days.

That was the turnaround we hoped for but, because of all that has gone on in terms of the constant delays in the previous twelve months, I have to say I preferred to wait on the actual outcome before I got too excited.

From that original Wednesday meeting, as I said, we moved on quickly to that big meeting on the Monday. There were also lots of phone calls and emails going backwards and forwards as each side sought clarity on particular issues.

Then, true to their word, the government came through with the announcement of the positive outcome we had hoped for.

The much-needed $12 million had been approved.

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The other major point and a very important milestone created by the agreement that was made is that the BRC will now be managing Eagle Farm project.

We’ve taken over the management of the whole project from Racing Queensland. That puts the BRC in charge of our own destiny which was not the case previously.

Thankfully that situation has now changed with Treasury signing off on the loan and the authority for the project being handed to us.

Understanding that we can’t change the past, we see that as a great outcome at this time.

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With our new authority comes a great deal of responsibility.

We now have to deliver ... but we are comfortable with that task, although there can be no doubt we will have to manage a host of intricate issues along the way, such as engaging with the contractors. That is ready to move forward.

Our intention to have them on site in August and to be proactive in dealing positively with all aspects of this vitally important, phase two development of the Eagle Farm project.

I understand that the delays in this project have been very frustrating for all of racings stakeholders but, hopefully, it will now be onwards and upwards from here.