Carol Altmann – The Terrier

UPDATED: All seven of the new Warrnambool City councillors are poised to step up and ban racehorse training on beaches west of Thunder Point.

[I have updated this story to include Cr Max Taylor, who has replied tonight.]

With the recent release of the council’s draft Wild Coast Landscape Management plan, they are in the box seat to do it.

And based on answers to questions I sent to all seven councillors last week, they are ready to put this long-running and ugly fight to an end.

If they don’t, the WCC might as well set up a vegetarian burger bar outside 25 Liebig St and sell steak sandwiches, such would be the hypocrisy in a management plan that is packed – at long last – with ways to protect the wild coast from Levy’s Beach to Spooky’s Beach from further harm.

For some reason the Warrnambool Racing Club – apparently in defiance of the changed mood of many local trainers – can’t seem to let Levy’s and Spooky’s go.

This is despite the demise of king-pin trainer Darren Weir, sustained community anger, no racehorse training on the beach for more than four years, a loss of social licence, and the absolute privilege of training at Lady Bay.

Despite all of this, the WRC, according to a recent media report, just keeps picking the scab.

The WRC keeps waving a red rag….it might still come back in and use Spooky’s beach….maybe it will, maybe it won’t.

For this, we can thank the majority of former councillors who ignored the wishes of the wider community, agreed to the law change, split the place open, and left behind another shit show for the new council to clean up.

Given we now have fresh eyes on this old headache, last week I asked our new councillors two simple questions: the first was whether they supported commercial racehorse training in the wild coast area.

Six of those who responded said no, they did not, or as Mayor Vicki Jellie put it, “absolutely not”.

(Cr Taylor responded after the deadline but tonight said he was opposed).

Cr Angie Paspaliaris said she was a WRC member, sponsor, and a race goer, but she, too, was “hesitant” to support racehorse training in the area, given the strong community opposition.

Seven out of seven, even including a “hesitant”, is a whopping turnaround.

I also asked the councillors a second question, which was whether they would support an amendment to change the planning rules to once again ban racehorse training in this area.

Four of the six who responded said a firm yes, they would.

Mayor Jellie went further, saying not only did she support changing the planning rules, she was asking WCC staff how it could be done.

Cr Paspaliaris said she would consider it, and Cr Blain said he thought the council saying no to racehorse training would be enough.

[You can read the councillors’ answers in full here.]

All of this is a big vote of support not only for the community’s wishes, but for the draft management plan.

This draft plan really gets it.

It sets out plans for CCTV cameras to catch hoons, for unofficial tracks to be closed off, for ravaged areas to be revegetated, for the indigenous community to be intimately involved in future decision making and management, for better dog walking controls, and for the wildness of this area to be preserved for future generations who, like us, will wonder how motorbike rallies were ever allowed at Tower Hill.

Yet tucked in the middle of this plan is the steak sandwich – the racehorse training that would allow up to 100 racehorses a day.

The experts who put this management plan together are powerless to change the law, but our new councillors can.

That time is now.

[You can read more about the wild coast plan and have a say until 30 March here.]

Q: Do you support commercial racehorse training in the wild coast precinct? 

Would you support the removal of the planning amendment which currently allows this activity and, if so, will you put forward a motion to request that the Planning Minister remove this amendment?

Mayor Vicki Jellie:

I do not support racehorse training in the wild coast precinct – absolutely not.

Yes, I would support the removal of the planning amendment and have made inquiries with associated WCC staff as to how this can occur, and have received options of how this can happen.

Deputy Mayor Richard Ziegeler:

I do NOT support commercial racehorse training on any of the beaches.
I support the removal of the amendment and would so vote.

Cr Otha Akoch:This issue of racehorse training on the beaches is not popular as far as community is concerned. As a councillor, I will go with the community in supporting the removal of the amendment.

Cr Debbie Arnott:  I do not support race horse training in the wild coast and I would support an amendment.

Cr Angie Paspaliaris: I have a responsibility to acknowledge the community’s unrest and opposition that commercial horse training at Levy’s/Spooky’s provokes, which means I am hesitant to support commercial horse training in the wild coast precinct.

I am a WRC member and sponsor, a race goer; as a Councillor, my balanced view is that it is not unreasonable to expect that the Warrnambool Racing Club has the capacity to adjust and adapt its approach and operations in order to address and respect the environment, community concerns, and a changing society.

I would consider an amendment.

Cr Ben Blain: “With the information presented to us currently on this issue, I couldn’t support this proposal.

I believe there would need to be more work done with all stakeholders in relation to any proposed changes of use in this precinct. As far as I am aware there is no active interest from trainers to use this precinct at the moment. I think the current arrangements in relation to horse training in other areas meet the trainers needs.

“I don’t see removing the planning amendment as necessary, if council aren’t supportive of the the proposal it won’t happen…even if the amendment was removed, the planning minister can always reinstate it if there is support for the proposal in the future.

Cr Max Taylor: I am against the training of racehorses at Levy’s Beach and west of there, including Spooky’s.

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

The push to allow large-scale racehorse training at Levy’s Beach will return to the Warrnambool City Council again next Monday night (3/2) for a crucial vote that goes far beyond horse racing.

It is, instead, a line in the sand: a time to decide whether Warrnambool is prepared to step into a new way of thinking – a bold Warrnambool – or to remain stuck in the past, as an old Warrnambool.

On the surface, the seven councillors will effectively be asked again whether they support or reject large numbers of racehorses – up to 120 a day on the beach and 40 on a dune – being able to train in the coastal reserve at Levy’s Beach/Spookies Beach all year-round. (This would be in addition to training at Lady Bay for nine months of the year.)

But this vote is also a test of whether, in 2020, we, as a city, are prepared to continue to ignore the wishes of the traditional custodians, the Eastern Maar peoples, for whom the coast around Levy’s is known as Tarerer.

I find it incomprehensible that the council would even consider such a move when traditional custodians are against it, as was first made clear when the consultation process began more than two years ago.

We are all living on Aboriginal land and yet we still find this concept discomforting, rather than a privilege.

Indeed one of the arguments used by Racing Victoria is that horse training on Warrnambool’s beaches goes back to the 1800s – and this is supposed to be a persuasive argument – yet the indigenous connection to this coast stretches back at least 60,000 years and possibly 120,000 years.

Think about that for one second.

Despite this incredible history, it is the European connection through racehorses, a mere speck of sand by comparison, that is held up as evidence of a rich tradition, a deep heritage and a right of passage.

How demeaning this is to the traditional custodians; how gutting.

Like so much of south-west Victoria, Warrnambool has a shocking history around the treatment of indigenous peoples and the destruction of an ancient culture, none of which we learnt about at school, and which contributed to local, white kids like me growing up with a fear and suspicion of Aboriginal people.

I knew nothing until I was old enough to read this history for myself and to learn about the full impact of dispossession and discrimination.

I am still reading. Over the Christmas holidays I devoured Archie Roach’s magnificent autobiography, Tell Me Why, and Robbie Lowe Snr’s book, The Mish, which spoke of a Warrnambool where I grew up, but barely recognised, because as a middle-class, white kid, I had no idea how life was for those living in Framlingham, just 20kms from Warrnambool, but as far away from my daily life as Mars.

We can no longer use the excuse of ignorance and say that we don’t know, or don’t understand, the indigenous connections to Country.

Times are changing.

Indeed our council includes a Welcome to Country at civic events, and a smoking ceremony at its Australia Day function, and takes great pride in paying its respects to indigenous elders (“past and present”) at the start of each council meeting.

How can our councillors accept all of the above, yet fail to listen to the elders trying to protect and restore a precious slice of Tarerer coast that, even under council laws, is classed as a coastal reserve?

It’s not enough to fly the Aboriginal flag outside the council chambers in Liebig St, or to have a striking Adnate mural of Bernice Clarke and Rylan Miller on the side of South-West TAFE.

These are all important, symbolic gestures that make us feel good, but unless we are prepared to change our thinking around our decision-making, that is all they will be: symbolic.

The Eastern Maar have been fighting to be heard and surely now is the time to listen and to act or we will remain stuck under the heavy shadow of colonialism that has burdened Warrnambool for so long.

Monday night will be a critical test of where we stand as a city and where we are headed, and I, for one, am not going to miss it.

The meeting is at the WCC chambers, 25 Liebig St, starting at 5.45pm.

This article is part of an ongoing series supported by the Walkley Foundation, including funding Freedom of Information applications and other research tools.

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Carol Altmann – The Terrier

I always suspected it was the case, but now it’s been confirmed – for almost three years, the Warrnambool City Council did virtually nothing about racehorse trainers breaking the rules at Lady Bay.

Early last year I lodged a Freedom of Information application for all of the correspondence between the council and Warrnambool Racing Club about breaches and alleged breaches of the training rules at Lady Bay.

I asked for everything from 1 December 2016 – which is when the new rules began – right through to 14 March 2019: all letters, emails, the whole lot.

The application took nine months, with the council making me jump through multiple, mind-screwing hoops to narrow down such things as what I meant by “members” of the WRC, what email addresses they should search for, what names they should search for, what keywords they should search for….

On and on it went, at an eventual cost of $216.75 (funded, thankfully, by a grant from the Walkley Foundation Public Fund which supports investigative journalism).

And at the end of all that searching and all that money, the result was just two letters:

Two, brief letters from the WCC to the WRC in 27 months: one written in March last year and one from November 2018.

This was the total sum of all written correspondence between those in charge, despite the steady stream of complaints (and videos and photographs) from the public during this time showing near misses, a racehorse that had thrown its rider, trainers riding fast past walkers, and numerous other safety issues. (See footage below from 2017.)

Apparently none of this warranted even a single email from the WCC to the WRC.

Perhaps they rang or texted each other, leaving no paper trail, I don’t know.

What I do know, however, is that when it comes to cracking down on errant trainers, the council has been extraordinarily weak. 

Let’s be super clear here: asking for the rules to be enforced does not mean we are instantly “anti-horse racing” or that all trainers are running amok. #notalltrainers

Instead, it’s a reminder that a public beach is just that – public –  and members of the public have every right to be asking the council what happens when things go wrong, especially when it comes to racehorses on Warrnambool’s main swimming beach.

Until last November, not one trainer had been suspended or fined.

The council says it has since cancelled the permit of one trainer for breaches, although we don’t know who, or for how long, or why, or whether – to be frank – if this actually happened, as some within the industry are unaware of it.

Professional racehorse training at Lady Bay is now the new normal and despite claims that it has “always” been this way, it hasn’t.

A second FOI, which I will write more about soon, revealed there were regularly more than 1000 horse workouts a month at Lady Bay until disgraced trainer Darren Weir fell off his perch.

This is not how it used to be, but this is what our council happily signed up for: up to 96 horses running each morning until 10am, seven days a week, from the first day of Autumn to the first day of Summer, including public holidays.

And they did this with a promise that officers would keep an eye on things – the FOI results show that they didn’t.

In fact Mayor Tony Herbert has recently taken things one step further and suggested that people who are worried by the racehorses at Lady Bay should go to another beach.

Good grief.

This is an excerpt of what Cr Herbert recently wrote in an email to one resident:

“I have spoken to many people over the past few years and some of them avoid the said beach when training of horses is occurring.  Some find that unacceptable, others find that ok.  WCC approach is trying to achieve a balanced approach.

We are so lucky in our city and region that we have a number of alternatives, if sharing the beach with horses is unacceptable to you in the mornings. During the winter months if I’m walking my dog, I choose to use other beaches and there is a number of them.”

In other words, if push comes to shove with “sharing” our main beach, it is the general public that gets shoved.

More on the results of these FOIs soon.

The FOI would not have been possible without a grant from the Walkley Foundation Public Fund which supports investigative journalism.

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

Remember the doom-and-gloom, Chicken-Little-The-Sky-Is-Falling predictions for local racing if the big trainers weren’t allowed to run horses at Levy’s Beach?

Well the Warrnambool Racing Club has just notched up a record profit – its equity has gone from $8.5 million last year to a cool $10.1 million this year.

That’s right, far from falling in a deep dark hole, things have never looked so good.

“This has truly been an exciting year for the Warrnambool Racing Club,” enthuses chairman Nick Rule in his 2018-19 report to members.

Mr Rule goes on to wax lyrical about a “remarkable financial year” and, in particular, this year’s hugely successful May Racing Carnival: “Extremely strong crowds, record betting turnover and highly competitive jumps racing were the highlights…”

Hold your horses!

Wasn’t the May Racing Carnival under threat of collapse if hundreds of racehorses a week weren’t allowed to pound up and down the dune at Levy’s?

That’s what the racing industry told us, the State Government, and also the Warrnambool City Council which, by the way, still manages to find the money to be listed as a major sponsor of the WRC.

The truth of the matter is that no racehorse training has been allowed at Levy’s beach since the end of 2016.

And the sky hasn’t fallen in. That seductive old fox, Jobson Growth, hasn’t packed up and left town.

Darren Weir kept on winning, until he was exposed in January for the cheat that he is, with more charges – enough to make your hair curl – laid yesterday.

Local trainer Jarrod McLean also kept winning – including taking out the $2 million Mackinnon Stakes last year – until he, too, has found himself facing a raft of animal cruelty and corruption charges.

WA trainer Lindsey Smith has moved in to Weir’s stables at Warrnambool and is already racking up winners.

And the Warrnambool May Race Carnival has sailed on as one of the biggest events of the year on the Victorian racing calendar.

So much success and yet not one racehorse – officially at least – has trained on Levy’s Beach in three years.

The lure and magic of the Levy’s beach and dunes has been exposed as pure spin.

 

Cr Michael Neoh has also been crunching the numbers.

He now personally believes that racehorse access to Lady Bay should be enough.

With the Weir juggernaut no longer in the picture, the number of racehorses using Lady Bay has plummeted: Cr Neoh says it is now averaging 22 a day on the beach, and 14 in the water (April to July). It was close to 100 at its peak.

Lady Bay is where we “share” our public beach and that should be enough.

As it stands, the end of November is the deadline for the racing industry to move into Levy’s, but permits still need to be issued and roads and carparks need to be graded.

Behind the scenes, the traditional owners are also keeping up their fight to be heard, as they always have to do, because their connection to the land can’t be measured in turnover and totes.

The council, having just declared a climate change emergency, could step up right now and show it really does care for the most vulnerable parts of our coast.

Which way will this go in November? I don’t know, but the arguments that propped up the need for Levy’s are collapsing as fast as Weir’s career.

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