Tuesday, 12 November 2024

 David SOUTHWICK (Caulfield) (19:00): (911) My adjournment tonight is to the Premier, and the action that I seek is that the Premier intervene to guarantee that the Caulfield and surrounds community get their fair share and proper access to the Caulfield Racecourse Reserve. This is an issue that I have been talking about for a long time now. I have been working with the member for Oakleigh, the Minister for Environment and Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events, who is in a neighbouring electorate, and he oversees a number of the uses of the land reserve at the Caulfield Racecourse Reserve. Unfortunately, we have an issue in terms of managing racing and also the open space. We heard the Minister for Racing today get up and talk very proudly about the importance of racing, and we acknowledge and support that, but at the same time we need to ensure that outside of racing the locals around Caulfield get access to the racetrack. That was the idea about Caulfield Racecourse Reserve Trust, the act, and that is the goodwill that has been working alongside. Unfortunately, there is a stalemate between the Minister for Racing and the Minister for Environment in getting that access.

At the moment, if there is a race day, the Caulfield Racecourse Reserve middle is closed for two days before the races, and if you have a Wednesday meet and a Saturday meet that means the locals have no access to the racecourse for the whole week, which is absolutely pointless, particularly when you see racing going to 31 race days, up from 24 last year. We are talking about potentially night racing and more racing at Caulfield. We have got to get the balance right to ensure that locals get access to the middle of the racecourse. I know we have a new board at the racecourse, and I look forward to also working with the Melbourne Racing Club in trying to get a solution with all of this, but it is really important we have an act of Parliament that ensures that an important part of the use of the reserve is public open space. The public are being locked out not only during race days but two days before the race days. I would ask the Premier to intervene. Let us get a meeting organised and let us ensure that finally the locals of Caulfield get proper access to the middle of the racecourse. We would love money as well. We know money is tight, but at the very least let us ensure that Caulfield racecourse is open to residents so they can walk their dogs, go for a walk and get better use of the public space.