Craig Kerry
Racing NSW has hailed a Supreme Court appeal decision on Friday as a โwin on all frontsโ after its power to appoint an administrator at the embattled Australian Turf Club was returned.
In a much anticipated ruling with wide-ranging implications for the Peter Vโlandys-led racing regulator, the Court of Appeal set aside the orders of Justice Francois Kunc, who had ruled in March that Racing NSWโs intervention into the ATCโs off-track affairs was invalid.
Kunc had ordered that Racing NSWโs function under the Thoroughbred Racing ACT was to control, supervise and regulate โthe racing of galloping horsesโ rather than the clubโs management and financial position.
Racing NSW appealed, saying the โnarrow interpretationโ could significantly restrict its ability to fund infrastructure, facilities and operational support the stateโs 120 clubs.
The appeal panel on Friday also ruled Racing NSW move in December to appoint of Ernst & Youngโs Morgan Kelly as administrator to conduct the affairs of the ATC was stayed until 5pm on July 13. Leave to appeal was granted and ATC, which was ordered to pay Racing NSWโs appeal costs, could take its fight to the High Court.
Racing NSW is expected to discuss the ruling at board level before potential meetings with the ATC about its future.
Racing NSW chief operating officer Graeme Hinton said the regulatorโs legal team hailed the decision as a win on all fronts.
โItโs confirmed the powers under the Act as we interpreted them,โ he said.
โThat is the single most important part.โ
The decision followed a two-day appeal heard in late May and continued a battle that started last September.
Racing NSW issued a show-cause notice to the ATC, which operates Sydneyโs four metropolitan thoroughbred race tracks, that month as to why it should not sack the board and appoint an administrator because of financial and corporate governance concerns. That came at the end of a week in which the club sacked chief executive Matt Galanos and two directors then resigned.
The ATCโs financial troubles included a $145 million interest-free loan owed to Racing NSW, and a $30 million Commonwealth Bank loan due this October.
The ATC successful blocked the move in the NSW Supreme Court in March but Kelly has since been hired as a consultant to oversee the clubโs hospitality operations in a peace deal brokered to continue additional funding from the regulator.
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