The chief executive of Racing New South Wales, Peter V’Landys, has accused “cheats” and “liars” within the industry of trying to “smear” him during a heated appearance at a parliamentary inquiry.
V’Landys on Friday appeared before the parliamentary committee examining the Australian Turf Club’s proposal to sell Sydney’s Rosehill Gardens racecourse to developers who would build up to 25,000 homes.
One of the most powerful men in Australia sport, V’Landys claimed that “cheats” and “undesirables” were “using the inquiry to undermine” him and Racing NSW.
“I’m aware of an email that’s going around that’s basically saying, ‘This is your chance to get rid of V’Landys, so make up whatever you can, put a submission in’,” he said.
V’Landys also clashed with independent upper house MP Mark Latham during the hearing and accused him of trying to “bully” and “smear” him with “zero evidence”.
Earlier in the week, Latham had used parliamentary privilege to accuse V’landys of impropriety and engaging in a “constant pattern of regulatory abuse”.
The Australian Turf Club, which owns Rosehill, last year signed a memorandum of understanding with the state government, proposing to sell the racecourse – reportedly for up to $5bn.
The land is currently only thought to be worth up to $2bn, but Guardian Australia understands the ATC believes it will be worth up to $23bn once a metro station is built on it.
As long as a majority of the turf club’s members vote for the sale, the government would rezone the site for residential use and build an accompanying train station on it.
V’Landys on Friday said Racing NSW had no involvement with the proposal but it would make the “final decision” about Rosehill’s future.
He said Racing NSW wanted “oversight” to make sure the ATC spent the money on racing infrastructure, because the turf club was potentially “going to receive so much money”.
The deal would see the club retain ownership of the site until it was developed and a horse facility would be built at Horsley Park for the up to 400 animals that would need to be relocated, as well as developing Warwick Farm Racecourse into a “new world-class track”.
V’Landys said Racing NSW would consider the Warwick Farm proposal.
“We want a track that is conducive to competitive racing,” he said. “If an engineer can show us that Warwick Farm can accommodate all those minimum standards … we would certainly look at it.”
He was also asked about whether he had proposed legislative reform to the NSW Cabinet Office to ensure that revenue from the Rosehill sale was “reinvested to benefit the racing industry as a whole”, as the minutes from the meeting showed.
V’Landys said Racing NSW wanted “oversight” because the turf club was potentially going to receive “so much money” from the sale.
“We were never going to take the money, and that’s not what the minutes say,” he said.
Latham interjected, saying he knew what the minutes said.
V’Landys then said: “If you’re going to speak over me all the time, I would like the chairman to overrule you, because you can’t over speak to the witness.”
“If you want to intimidate and bully me like you normally do, fair enough, but I put up with bullies all my life.”
