Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Thoroughbred Racing NT chair Syd Stirling says it will mitigate any adverse impacts on the Darwin Turf Club after signing a 10-year funding agreement with the NT Government

Transcript

Thoroughbred Racing NT chair Syd Stirling says it will mitigate any adverse impacts on the Darwin Turf Club after signing a 10-year funding agreement with the NT Government · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: But we know that Thoroughbred Racing NT and the Northern
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Territory Government have now signed a new ten year funding
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: agreement which industry say is going to ensure the future
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: of racing in the territory for the foreseeable future. Now
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: joining me on the line to tell us a little
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: bit more about it is Sid Sterling, the chair of
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Thoroughbred Racing here in the Northern Territory. Good morning to you, Sid,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Good morning Katie, Thanks so much for your time. Sid.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: The most recent five year agreement, as I understand it,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: it expired on the thirtieth of June. Since then, I
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: know that the Thoroughbred Racing NT board and management have
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: indeed been working with the Northern Territory Government to try
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: to secure a new contract or a new agreement, and
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: one has now been secured. Sid, what exactly does it entail?
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: And Katie, we resume this ten year agreement on the
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: base level of funding that we had going back to
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: two sixteenth So it's a tide agreement given CPI since then.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: And our mission of course is to both sustain and
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: increase the strength of raising across the Northern Territory and
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: the best way to do that of course is providing
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: stakes increases, because that's what drives horse ownership, that's what
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: pet horses into trainer stands and on at the track.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: So we'll be looking very closely at our own operations
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: across our tracks in the North Churchory, looking to see
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: if we can do things better, and we'll be looking
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: at our own source revenue and how we strengthen that
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: into the future in order to be able to provide
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: for those very necessary states increases, which I'm included in
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: this agreement.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: All right, So just to sort of, I guess, get
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: into the nitty gritty of it, because I know this,
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: we'd obviously been in a situation where there had been
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: an offer put on the table by the Northern Territory government.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: I guess it was a couple of months back. Sid.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: Is that is that the offer that you've gone with
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: or have there been some changes to us?
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: Well? Sorry, okay, I've got progging. That's all right, all good,
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: some minor changes throughout the agreement, but the big ticket items,
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: the level of based funding didn't change from the outset.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: But we worked away at a few issues and got
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: some changes and so.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: Essentially, so what exactly is the base funding and is
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: it going to mean as well. I know there had
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: been that discussion that there was going to have to
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: be reduced funding I thought for the Darwin Turf Club
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: or for racing here in Darwin, but a greater focus
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: on the regents.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: There is an increased emphasis on infrastructure funding to the
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: three bush tracks, that's Tenant Creek, Catherine and adelais Griver.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: Alice Brings retains most of its funding, but Darwin are
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: restricted in the amount of maintenance funding and infrastructure funding.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: I suppose that that tarrantee, well, it's not allowed for
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: in the agreement. It doesn't restrict how much t R
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: and T or give Darwen, but they're not allowed for
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: in the agreement. So that's another challenge both for Darn
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: Turf Club and the t R and T because there's
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: big works required at a Dawn Turf Club over the
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: next few years.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah okay, so yeah, I'm just having a look at
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: it now. So an annual base amount of seventeen point
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: eighty eight million, but there is that breakdown from what
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: the Northern Territory Government had said back in July. That
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: breakdown for the Alice Springs, Tenant Creek, Catherine, Adelaide River
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: Turf Clubs.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: Yes, so if you take CPI over the last well
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: we're now talking six years plus, it's pretty high at
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: the moment. Yeah, it does put pressure on us to
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: get those increases in stakes into the system over the
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: next two years, and we desperately need those because you know,
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: barring a horse, the cost have gone up, the cost
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: of feed has gone up, trainers costs have gone up
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: as the bills for the owners get ever higher, and
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: if we don't put takes up at least commensurate with that,
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: we'll start losing ground.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I suppose what this means as well is that,
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: you know, in light of the agreement rate being reached,
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: will it mean there's those previous directions for the turf
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: club to repay that twelve million dollars that's no longer
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: going to apply.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: No, that's gone off the books. And of course that
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: was you know, a massive relief for both the day
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: and turf Club and pour Tea guaranteed it wasn't a
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: viable proposition. Look, I think government have been sensible about that,
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: and we thank them. I do want to. I shouldn't
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: single anyone out, but there's a couple of public servants
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: inside racing and gaming. You deserve a lot of credit
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: and good friends of the racing industry understand the racing
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: industry and and port hard for the racing industry in
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: terms of what what what eventually was in the agreement.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: So we thank them, thanks, thank them for that, and
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: we thank the Minister for the agreement. We look forward
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: to getting getting on with it. But look, the most
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: important thing for the industry is the stability and certainty
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: going forward. You're never going to get everything that you want, okay,
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: particularly in a pretty tight fiscal times, aren't we you know,
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: and well government we've got a lot of debt. We
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: have to recognize that, acknowledge that we get on with business.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: And sid what's the reaction. I know that you know
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: obviously all of the different turf clubs you would have
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: indeed been liaising with all of them. But is this
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: new funding agreement. Do you think that it's going to
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: have a detrimental impact for the Darwin Turf Club or
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: is it going to be workable.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: It'll be workable, will mitigate any effects on Darwen And
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: as I said, there's a number of things that we
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: can do and look at intively and own source revenue
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: and makeup that difference that we might otherwise have got.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: And seed for the regions. Are they all pretty happy
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: that the agreement's been reached and that there is going
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: to be that additional funding towards or directed towards them.
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they'd be delighted. Of course, these three tracks raced
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: only once per year. They used to race that Catherine
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: used to race a couple of times, as did Tenant
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: Creek in the past, but it was and Adelaide River
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: indeed had multiple meetings. But over the years it was
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: found that there was a big occasion the first meeting
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: and the Cup carnival, and the second meeting was difficult
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: to get people there, both both horses, trainers, owners and
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: of course the public. And if you don't get the public,
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: you lose ground very quickly. So they became once a
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: year tracks, So we need you need to be mindful
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: of that and just how much is feasible and viable
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: that can be spent on the track of earning races
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: once a year.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: And sid to anybody out there listening this morning, who
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: is thinking, you know, it's an enormous amount of money
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: for the industry. Why do they need to be provided
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: such a huge annual base amount of money. What would
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: you say to them.
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: Well, there's a thousand jobs associated in and around the
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: industry with its support with its support industries, that's seventeen
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: point eight million that goes to territory racing bins off
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: about one hundred and thirty million across territory wide expenditure
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: into what we call gross domestic product, and that of
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: course that expenditure attracts GST back from the Commonwealth at
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: a very generous rate compared to the other states. So
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: you have to look at that and think that probably
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: returns you know, forty to sixty million somewhere in that
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: root somewhere in that region, depending on what our relative
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: factor is at any given time in comparison to the
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: other state. So it's a viable industry, it's a strong
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: industry that provides a good, healthy employment, and of course
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: there's a GST factor back to the modern territory government
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: at the end of it all. So we've just got
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: to keep on well.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: Sid Sterling, I always appreciate your time. Thank you very
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: much for having a chat with us this morning and
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: talking us through that new ten year funding Agreement