For the third time, the old parties combined to reject an amendment to the ACT Budget from ACT Greens MLA Jo Clay to phase out the ACT Government's $41 million subsidy to the horse racing industry.
"The ACT Greens believe that the ACT Government should invest public money in industries that support community need, or bring benefit to the community," said ACT Greens MLA, Jo Clay.
"Currently, the horseracing industry receives more public money than the Canberra Raiders, ACT Brumbies, Canberra United and all community sports programs COMBINED.
"What's more, they get this money outside of any grant process or public tender.
"I don't think anyone in the community would think this is a good or fair use of taxpayer dollars.
"The Canberra Racing membership has declined and event attendance has dropped. Despite the huge financial injection from the ACT Government, they have moved from a surplus to a deficit and their liabilities have doubled.
"We've heard the industry claim their activities contribute $81M to the economy. But they admit the majority of this is from gambling and gambling advertising. And that figure is not high - the ACT's creative industries contribute $2.9 billion to our local economy.
"The horseracing industry also claims to create 500 jobs - this is a pretty generous reading. It looks like they are including every job in sports administration in Canberra. A closer reading of their report based on hours of work indicates that their direct employment accounts for only 2 FTE jobs.
"The horseracing industry is a dying industry that has lost its social licence.
"It is not the job of government to prop up this dying industry. Public funds need to go towards the public good. What are we getting for our public funding?
"The 2022-23 MOU provided $6.8M of public funds to the Canberra Racing Club. That year, the Canberra Racing Club gave out $5.96M in prize money and $976,000 in payments to key management personnel. It looks an awful lot like the public is funding horseracing prize money and CEO salaries.
"This is just not OK and the community will be rightly disappointed that both ACT Labor and the Canberra Liberals voted today to continue this waste of public funds.
"The ACT Greens recognise the need to support the workers and animals involved as the industry transitions. In order to do that, the Greens propose phasing out public funds rather than stopping them immediately," said Ms Clay.
Background
Since 2011, the ACT government has spent or pledged more than $100M of public money to the horseracing industry. The current MOU is here. It provides funds to the Canberra Racing Club and the Canberra Harness Club. In 2022-23 it provided $6.8M to the Canberra Racing Club and in 2023-24 it provided $6.9M to the Canberra Racing Club. In total, over $8 million is provided in public funding each year to the Canberra Racing Club and Canberra Harness Racing Club under the MOU.
Canberra Racing Club's Annual Reports are online. Annual Report 2022-23, Annual Report 2021-22, Annual Report 2020-21, Annual Report 2019-20.
Clay's amendment to the budget and Explanatory Statement can be provided on request.
The horseracing industry has produced an Economic Impact Report. It's not a public document but Clay obtained a copy under FOI. The report claims an economic contribution to the ACT economy and notes that 60% of that contribution is from gambling and gambling advertising. Clay has put questions to the horseracing industry about the information in this report in the interests of a transparency and is waiting on answers to those questions.
