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The Save Rosehill group is supporting Australian Turf Club (ATC) members who are calling for a change of leadership.

Errol Chant, a long-term member of the ATC, wrote to the directors of the ATC on 3 September 2024 and called on Peter McGauran to resign as ATC Chair. If Mr McGauran fails to do so, The Save Rosehill Group is supporting a member-led petition to bring on a vote to remove him as an ATC director.

The petition needs to secure five per cent of members in order to table a motion to that effect at a general meeting of the ATC.

Jason Abrahams, spokesperson for the Save Rosehill group, called on members to register to sign the petition on the group’s website, and said that the evidence emerging from the NSW Legislative Council Inquiry into the proposed sale had destroyed member confidence in the Chair’s leadership.

“The overwhelming sentiment I have received is that Mr McGauran’s position is now untenable.

“Members were already alarmed to learn from documents tabled in the NSW Upper House that the ATC leadership were drafting a press release announcing the sale of Rosehill Gardens before the ATC board were even informed of the proposal.

“The most recent hearing not only confirmed that his proposed alternative – a racetrack built around the Brick Pit at Sydney Olympic Park – was fanciful, but also that in the six months since the plan was first publicly mooted, the ATC has not even engaged with Sydney Olympic Park Authority to investigate its feasibility.

“Frankly, the ATC’s leadership is publicly embarrassing the club, and it is time for a change of leadership.”

During the course of the ATC’s hearing before the Inquiry in August, it was revealed that:

• Peter McGauran first learned of the possibility of selling the track in August 2023, but didn’t inform his co-directors until late November; and
• ATC corporate relations director Steve McMahon was drafting a press release about the sale in conjunction with the Premier’s office before the board of the ATC were informed of the proposal.

Mr McGauran also claimed in the hearing that the vulnerability of the green and golden bell frog, for which the Brick Pit is critical habitat, had “eased considerably” was refuted emphatically on Thursday 12 September by Sydney Olympic Park Authority (SOPA) CEO Carla Armanet.

Asked by the Committee Chair whether she agreed, Ms Armanet said:

“No, it is a high risk, very small population and we are one of the biggest populations in New South Wales.”

Ms Armanet’s evidence also addressed a number of serious concerns held by the Committee about a racetrack at Sydney Olympic Park, including the lack of space, the geotechnical stability of the site and the impact on other sensitive environmental areas adjacent to the Brick Pit.

Mr Abrahams said that, given the sale was predicated on the identification of a suitable replacement for Rosehill, the exposure of the Chair’s proposed alternative as a sham meant the proposal to redevelop the racecourse was dead in the water.

“The evidence plainly shows that there is no viable alternative if Rosehill were to be sold for development, and we know that first-class racing in metropolitan Sydney cannot survive without a second Group-One quality track alongside Royal Randwick.”

“The ATC leadership have had almost a year to convince members of the merits of selling the Club’s most important asset, and their continued inability to articulate a credible plan is shockingly amateur.

“It is no wonder they cancelled the remainder of their member consultation program.

“It is clear to us that Mr McGauran has lost the confidence of the majority of ATC members, and should be removed as Chair,” Mr Abrahams said.