Which of our councillors have owned a racehorse?

The simple question of which Warrnambool City councillors have owned a racehorse has thrown up all sorts of hurdles. Image: sportspix

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

I’ve been thinking a lot this week about how hard it has become to get to the truth, and for people to get answers to even straight-forward questions, like how many Warrnambool City councillors have owned shares in a racehorse in the past four or five years.

This question was put to the CEO as part of public question time at last month’s council meeting and also asked by me directly to each councillor, and we still don’t have a full answer.

Here is what we know so far:

Cr Sue Cassidy told me via email that she had shares in two horses: one, trained by Michelle Payne, she dipped out of in early to mid 2018 and the other, trained by local Matthew Williams, she divested in 2017.

Crs David Owen and Tony Herbert said they have had no such interests.

Crs Kylie Gaston and Mike Neoh didn’t respond to either me or the CEO.

Cr Robert Anderson didn’t respond either, but I chased him up with a phone call because I was told he did – and does – have interests in a racehorse. He told me in no uncertain and angry terms that it was none of my business, that it was personal, and that the question was on par with asking whether he had three girlfriends, or lived with a man, or owned four houses…..err, not quite.

 

As it stands, under the Local Government Act 1989 (written on parchment), none of the above is considered a direct conflict of interest, even though the councillors have been hotly involved in the racehorses on beaches debate.

Under the new Act, going through State Parliament as we speak, it will be. It is also a conflict under IBAC guidelines, but guidelines are not rules or laws: they just encourage public officers to name it up. (The old ‘pub test’.)

I can’t help but wonder how things might have unfolded around the whole racehorses on beaches battle if we had known about these interests from day one.

As it now stands, the council may still have to make one more major decision, even though the majority of trainers have agreed to no longer pursue Levy’s.

Racing Victoria/Country Racing Victoria is apparently coming the heavy on the Warrnambool Racing Club to press on with Levy’s, because to back out now could set a precedent to close off other horse training beaches like Balnarring and Barwon Heads.

We always suspected W’bool was a pawn in a much bigger game.

Surely our council would never succumb to such pressure….would it?

This article is part of an ongoing series supported by the Walkley Foundation, including funding Freedom of Information applications and other research tools. If you would like to help The Terrier keep digging, you can find the Tip Jar here.



Board silent after Lyndoch Living membership decisions

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

Hear that? Crickets. Not a word. Nada. Nothing. Zip.

A full 48 hours has passed since the much anticipated monthly board meeting of Lyndoch Living where it was decided which members of the community, if any, would be good enough to become members of Lyndoch, which is owned by the community.

Among those who applied, as we know, is Vicki Jellie AM, who was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia for her services to the community for her work with Peter’s Project to build a cancer centre in Warrnambool.

Vicki has been calling Lyndoch these past couple of days to find out if she made the cut. She has not had the courtesy of a call back.

A new board member has also been selected. Who is it?
Who knows? We are the blocked out, shut out, cut off community who spent so many years caring for Lyndoch and we still do.

Warrnambool, at what point do we say, enough?



Racehorse trainers abandon Levy’s: the battle is over

A four-year-battle to save Levy’s Beach from mass racehorse training is over. Image supplied.

Exclusive

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

A four-year battle to save Levy’s Beach/Tarerer coast from mass racehorse training is over, with a meeting of all trainers last night (Mon) voting to abandon the plan.

A meeting of about 40 SWOTRA* trainers was held to gauge opinion once and for all, and, according to a rock-solid source, it was decided by an overwhelming majority that they would no longer pursue access to Levy’s/Spookies Beach.

Trainers will instead use only Lady Bay, where numbers will be capped at 50 a day, down from 96.

The meeting, attended by an officer from the Warrnambool City Council, also agreed to lobby for better sand training facilities at the Warrnambool racecourse.

Hallelujah.

Common sense has prevailed, at last.

I could weep.

I could weep for that beautiful, wild beach, which finally has a chance to recover from decades of abuse and neglect and be nurtured.

It is time.

While the WCC is yet to formally vote on the plan, the trainers’ decision makes that vote a virtual fait accompli. It will happen quickly.

Last night’s meeting comes just three weeks after the council deferred making any decision on Levy’s so it could meet again with the main players, including trainers, and traditional owners who have been strongly against turning a precious slice of Country into an exercise park for racehorses.

Now it is done.

Now we will see an end to an ugly battle that has raged for years and savaged our community.

So many people – led by the steadfast Belfast Coastal Reserve Action Group – fought to stop the madness of allowing up to 120 racehorses a day, every day, to train along the beach, and another 40 a day to trample up and down the large dune.

This outrageous assault was going to be allowed all year round.

This was never a compromise: this was utter capitulation to the Darren Weir juggernaut that blew our community apart.

There are many things that I find unforgivable about Weir, and cleaving our community in two is one of them.

The stretch of Tarerer coast/Belfast Coastal Reserve, including the dune, that was to be opened up to racehorse training. Image: Chris Farrell.

The uncomfortable truth is that if Weir had not fallen into his own vat of troubles, we would still be at war, such was his power and influence over our star-struck council and the racing industry.

Who could forget that terrible, “urgent” council meeting held just four days before Christmas in 2018, when the anger and vitriol spilled over for all to see?

It was brutal and ugly and so damaging.

Warrnambool, which has long been a racing town, was forced to take sides and friendships and families have suffered.

Now, to pull out a cliche, the healing must begin.

Levy’s Beach has to be healed and the hoons booted out through proper, serious enforcement. If you are caught being a dickhead, you are fined $3000 on the spot – that sort of serious enforcement.

And the training rules of Lady Bay need to be enforced and be seen to be enforced.

No more slaps on the wrist, no more relying on the public to capture wrong-doings on their i-phones, but instead an independent monitor who will release monthly, public reports via the council.

I recently found out through Freedom of Information that Parks Victoria planned to charge the Warrnambool Racing Club a whopping annual licence fee of $62,400 to use Levy’s Beach, such is the privilege.

Using Lady Bay for racehorse training is an equal privilege.

It is our main beach and it is our compromise, but it can only work if there is respect for the rules on all sides.

We have a chance to get the balance back.

This exhausting battle is over and – I hope – the war is too.

————

[*Trainers must be a member of the South West Owners and Trainers Association to access local beaches. The group has about 40 members, from full-time professionals to hobbyists.]

Thankyou to the Walkley Foundation for funding part of my investigative work with this on-going story, including expensive and time-consuming Freedom of Information applications and other research tools. If you would like to help The Terrier keep digging, you can find the Tip Jar here.



Lyndoch board resignation kept under wraps…here’s why

The Terrier Facebook post from 16 February about Peter Downs resigning from the Lyndoch board.

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

Well, well, well…. it turns out former Warrnambool Racing Club chief Peter Downs resigned from the Lyndoch board months ago, but, oddly, officials weren’t told until the very day after The Terrier post on Facebook.

Mr Downs resigned on 18 December 2019 and the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) is supposed to be told of such changes within 28 days.

Despite this, and despite Lyndoch having held at least one board meeting since then, ASIC wasn’t formally notified until 17 February – the day after the Facebook post on The Terrier.

Mr Downs’ profile was also suddenly whipped down from the Lyndoch website.

Funny, that.

As it stands, there has been no public statement by Lyndoch about Mr Downs’ departure after three years on the board, and just three months after he was re-elected for a second term.

While I am sure we’re all happy to help Lyndoch to keep up with its governance free of charge (!), the bigger picture here is cause for concern.

Who replaces Mr Downs?

As we now know, while Mr Downs’ seat at the table sat empty, the Lyndoch board was rejecting membership applications left, right and centre.

You have to be a member of Lyndoch to become a board member.

No new members = nobody can nominate for the board.

Memberships were discarded instantly because the applicants happened to know me, however closely or distantly, or have ‘liked’ a post from The Terrier.

Wow, to think that passes as acceptable.

Board vacancies no longer have to be advertised, as they were under the old rules of Lyndoch that were changed without any of us noticing.

Now, when a vacancy arises, the board members and CEO just hunt around for their preferred applicants.

If any other public body worked this way – imagine the WCC councillors and CEO deciding who could be on the council – there would be rioting in the streets.

For the wider community to have no chance to nominate for the Lyndoch board is an outrage.

In any other world, this would be called branch stacking, or insider trading, or a closed shop, or a cabal, yet we are supposed to accept it as normal.

I keep saying it, Lyndoch is owned by the community and run by the board on our behalf.

That board will hold its monthly meeting on Tuesday.

There it will decide who will replace Mr Downs. The names are in.

It will also decide which membership applications, including that of Vicki Jellie AM, will be accepted or tossed in the bin.

It’s going to be a very interesting test.

There are troubles at Lyndoch. I am going to keep saying it, despite the attempts to silence those who say the Emperor is naked.

Does the current board feel happy with how things are being run? Do they agree with this shutting out of the community? Are they monitoring the numbers of staff on sick leave? Are they happy to sit back and watch and then say they knew nothing and did nothing?

There is a lot to be learnt from what is now unfolding at the Warrnambool City Council about speaking up and standing up.

I, for one, am waiting to see who from the Lyndoch board emerges as a Bernadette Northeast – on the front foot – or as a Cr Michael Neoh – far too little, far too late.

If you would like to help The Terrier keep digging, please visit the Tip Jar here.

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Cr Neoh attempts to be hero, but nobody falling for this one

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

Well this has to stick in your craw.

Cr Mike Neoh is riding in on his silver horse having realised – just 8 months out from an election – that things are broken at the WCC.

You are spot on there, Cr Neoh, but what did you do in the past five years to change that culture of which you now speak?

The bullies that have made life hell for some people in council didn’t arrive last week.

They were employed by the previous CEO.

The credit card rorting didn’t happen yesterday.

It started years ago, under the previous CEO.

 

False and misleading council reports -especially around things like Flagstaff Hill and the Aquazone – have been an issue for years. (I know, because I have been writing about it!)

That appalling “good bloke” culture that suffocated so many good people has thrived unquestioned for years.

You – and the other senior councillors – didn’t inherit this shite, you were right there, watching, as it all unfolded.

So while I am absolutely overjoyed that AT LAST the councillors have decided to listen to the staff who have been suffering for so long, it is disingenuous to act surprised.

The alarm bells have been ringing and, like him or not, Cr Peter Hulin was one of the chief bellringers.

The new CEO Peter Schneider, unfortunately, has not lived up to expectations and certainly not built bridges or healed the wounds.

Given Cr Neoh’s public declaration today, I suspect Mr Schneider is now a dead man walking. He will probably be gone within six months.

But he must not be the only one.

A clean out of all the dysfunction is necessary and that must come not only in the next few weeks, but also in October.

(Photo from The Warrnambool Standard home page, with my words added at the top. You can read Rachael Houlihan’s exclusive story here: https://www.standard.net.au/…/city-council-has-serious-cu…/…)