THE SUNSHINE COAST NEWSPAPER COLUMN: STAKEHOLDER CONFIDENCE IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS

By Graham Potter | Sunday, August 23, 2015

Graham Potter writes a weekly column for the Sunshine Coast daily. Due to demand from those having trouble accessing the paper these columns are now also published on HRO courtesy of the Sunshine Coast daily.

Earlier this week it was confirmed that the State Government is ready to place advertisements for positions on what would initially be called the Racing Advisory Board.

It is envisaged that body will officially change its name to the Racing Queensland Board once the necessary changes to the Racing Act have been completed, with an expected timeframe for that eventuality being early 2016.

These events are a direct sequel to the MacSporran Commission of Inquiry Report which, amongst other things, recommended that all of the previous racing boards ... the Queensland All Codes, the Queensland Greyhound, the Queensland Harness and the Queensland Thoroughbred Racing Boards ... be summarily dismissed and replaced by a seven person board to run all three racing codes.

That initial recommendation was acted upon at the beginning of June, making this search for the Advisory Board members the start of the next phase of the development of the new management structure.

It would be an understatement to say that racing stakeholders will be watching this process very carefully and with some trepidation, not least because the seven positions on the new board are not open ended. In fact no less than four of the seven members ... the majority ... have to be independent and have varied individual business skills which will add value to the board.

They will be joined by one representative each from the three racing codes.

Now that this process is underway, with many eyes following what happens next, I know where my attention will be over the coming months. It will be on whether the Racing Minister can in fact deliver on the message he put out in his well-documented press conference on July 16.

When queried how each racing code could be adequately represented by only one representative, the Racing Minister replied, “I do recognise that there needs to be some supporting mechanisms to go with that.

“How we craft individual codes and the capacity of all the players within those codes to influence the board ... to have appropriately representation on the board ... that is a matter of on-going consideration.

“Clearly we are not saying we are going to put one thoroughbred, one greyhound and one harness person from the state that is going to have an overriding say.

"We need an under-pinning support system so that the representation provided will be appropriate for stakeholders ... enabling a liaison connection to the industry so they feel fully represented.”

Hopefully the Minister is working behind the scenes to ensure that ‘liaison connection’ is in place and ready to go when the board members take their seat for the first time.

The Racing Minister is not yet due to divulge his strategy with regard to making stakeholders feel ‘fully represented’ on the new playing field.

He has more time and it is fair to give him that, but a reminder of an important issue is never out of place.

Proper representation is a major confidence issue with stakeholders and how this is handled will be of prime importance in the next six months.

The Racing Minister has drawn an outline in this regard. I can’t wait to see how he joins the dots.

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