THE SUNSHINE COAST NEWSPAPER COLUMN: SAME OLD, SAME OLD. WHEN WILL WE SEE REAL ACTION?

By Graham Potter | Friday, March 8, 2019

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.

Racing Minister Stirling Hinchliff said all of the right things at the end of the ‘by invitation only’ Queensland Racing forum which was held at Parliament House on Wednesday morning.

In reality though, you could have written the post forum press release before the forum between government and participants from different sectors of the racing industry had actually taken place … such is the predictability of the outcome of these ‘get-togethers.’

“It’s all about making sure we have an industry that is going to be more sustainable, delivering more for its participants and more for Queensland,” said Hinchliff.

Racing stakeholders have heard it all before. That general comment reverberates like an echo of the ghosts of past racing ministers down the years and, as such, it has little to no value.

Value will only be found when action is taken on specifics and further core value will be added, beyond that, when a speedy timeframe is put in place to expedite some serious matters in question.

That is not to malign sincere attempts to get a conversation going … such as the opportunity presented to industry representatives to put their case at the Queensland Racing Forum … and indeed ‘specifics’ were raised and noted in the exchange of views on Wednesday.

Most notable amongst these points were:

1) A review of the tri-code model. Most racing stakeholders want this system squashed and a reversion to the structure where each racing code is responsible for its own activities.

2) The need to change the current judiciary system process. Most racing stakeholders believe the current system is fatally flawed with an inefficient appeals system that simply takes too long to resolve matters.

3) The desire for some certainty in racing’s on-going administration capability where it would not be subject to wholesale changes if there is a change in government … which has, for too long, been a compromising point in racing’s well-being.

That is some wish-list.

Because of the reviews, the consultation, the submitting and ratifying of new proposals, the passing of the required new legislation … it could literally take years to get any of that done.

The bottom line though is that it is worth doing and, if it is worth doing, the sooner those key players managing the task get going, the better.

What racing can’t abide is for the Racing Minister to smile, shake hands, say the right things and then walk away from Wednesday’s meeting and not be heard from again for many months.

Wouldn’t it be nice if, this time, authorities can move past the mere mumbling of words such as ‘encouraging’ and ‘a productive meeting’ and really get their teeth into securing the change the industry urgently needs.

Perhaps then we can reach a stage where it would be a statement of genuine substance when we say that racing is, ‘sustainable, delivering more for its participants and more for Queensland.”

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