The Minns government has had a major hole punched in its strategy to boost housing in Sydney after the Australian Turf Club members voted not to sell Rosehill racecourse, earmarked for a major housing development.
The New South Wales government had offered $5bn for the site, and proposed it would accommodate 25,000 new homes and a proposed Metro stop.
The proposal would have made a significant contribution towards the NSW target of 337,000 new dwellings by 2029 that NSW has pledged under the national housing accord.
The vote, conducted at a meeting at Randwick on Tuesday and with an earlier online vote, was soundly rejected by 7,860 members who voted, with 56% against the sale and 44% for it.
The Rosehill site is owned by the members of the ATC – unlike some other race tracks that are on crown land.
The failure to gain endorsement for the $5 bn transaction is a political blow to the premier, Chris Minns, who personally championed the proposal since day one. He had described it as “a gamechanger” and “a once in a lifetime opportunity”.
The government had planned to buy the site, build a metro station and then sell development rights to private companies for the housing component.
“Look, I am obviously disappointed in the decision of ATC members, I am not going lie,” Minns said on Tuesday.
“I think this would have been a great opportunity. The fact that it will not be realised is disappointing for the government, the people of NSW, and many ATC members.
“It feels like a golden opportunity has slipped through our fingers.”
The metro stop will also be shelved due to viability, the premier said.
Minns again ruled out compulsory acquisition of Rosehill racecourse, saying that would disrespect the wishes of the members of the ATC.
But he said the government had been working on other sites which would be unveiled soon.
“The reason we are the most expensive city for housing on earth is that we have been too timid on housing for too long,” Minns said.
He promised that despite the failure of this proposal, he would continue to “look outside the box” at proposals to increase housing.
The Rosehill project has come at a political cost. Minn’s enthusiastic pursuit of the Rosehill project led to a referral to the Independent Commission against Corruption, over his personal friendship with an ATC executive. The ICAC did not find any reason to pursue an investigation.
The opposition leader, Mark Speakman, said he respected the democratic processes of the ATC, but said this was another case of a lack of action on housing by the Minns government.
“We have a crisis of housing in NSW. It’s a crisis for young people and for families of NSW.”
The government will now need to find alternative large scale sites. One alternative is to develop the Canterbury race track, but there are more complex planning issues associated with the site and it would not yield the same amount of housing.
There may also be some scope for some development around Rosehill on vacant land owned by the ATC, but this would be on a much smaller scale.
On Monday, Greyhounds NSW announced plans to close the iconic Dapto dog track near Wollongong and there has been speculation that it could be developed for housing.
The failure to endorse the Rosehill sale will also have implications for the racing industry in NSW and Racing NSW’s chief executive, Peter V’Landys.
Some in the industry saw the potential $5bn windfall as an opportunity to revamp racing facilities in NSW and secure the long term future of horse racing via a trust that would hold about $3bn of the proceeds. Racing currently relies on support from the state government and gambling revenues.
The failure of the deal is a rare setback for V’Landys, one of the most powerful figures in NSW.
The ATC chair, Peter McGuaran, who had also championed the sale, said wagering on animal sports was falling faster than expected and this was creating a serious problem for the racing industry.
He said it would now be a challenge to upgrade the facilities at Rosehill. He said he intended to stay on as chair of the ATC, despite the defeat.
The shifting sands of the deal with the government and concerns about who would control the proceeds have been blamed for the eroding support among ATC members, which include prominent trainers like Gai Waterhouse.
There was a high level of distrust about the intentions of V’Landys, who was a strong proponent of the sale.
In recent weeks he backtracked from an earlier position that Racing NSW should manage the proceeds.
In a bid to win over members concerned about V’landys’ influence, the Racing NSW boss wrote to McGauran this month, confirming the regulator “will not seek to recover any of the net $5 billion in sale proceeds from the ATC”.
The vote was delayed by legal action from Racing NSW. In recent weeks the ATC promised members $1.9bn-worth of upgrades to other Sydney tracks, including turning Warwick Farm into a replacement Group 1 track, as well as giving existing members a $1,000 food and beverage tab once a year for five years.
