Racing NSW drops year-long probe into Mark Latham ‘swearing’ allegation

Racing NSW has dropped a long-running investigation into what it previously alleged was abusive conduct by Mark Latham towards a race club official after a parliamentary committee found it was launched in retaliation for the firebrand MP’s opposition to the Rosehill Gardens racecourse sale.

Racing NSW last year engaged one of Australia’s most senior law enforcement figures to investigate an accusation Latham swore at Steve McMahon, the chief executive of the Australian Turf Club (ATC) and architect of the since-abandoned sale of the racecourse.

It followed a confrontation at Rosehill in March last year which the ATC alleged involved “unprovoked verbal abuse”. Racing NSW appointed Michael Phelan, the former chief executive of the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission and an ex-deputy commissioner of national security with the Australian Federal Police, to probe the allegations. That led to an inquiry presided over by former Federal Court judge Steven Rares.

But more than a year later, the investigation has now been dropped, after the parliament’s powerful privileges committee found in an interim report that Racing NSW’s investigation was a “retaliatory” response to Latham’s high-profile opposition to the proposed sale of Rosehill Racecourse.

The racing regulator now faces the potential of a finding that it acted in contempt of parliament, after the chair of the committee, Labor MP Stephen Lawrence, said the investigation into Latham could have “a tendency to substantially interfere in a member of parliament doing their job”.

The alleged swearing incident occurred in the context of the proposed sale of Rosehill Racecourse to create a “mini-city” of 25,000 new homes. The since-abandoned deal, which was brought to Premier Chris Minns personally by McMahon, a friend of the premier’s, was vehemently opposed by most ATC members, including Latham.

The independent MP helped spearhead opposition to the sale, which was backed by Racing NSW and its chief executive Peter V’landys.

The two men repeatedly locked horns during a fiery parliamentary probe into the Rosehill sale.

Latham accused Racing NSW of acting as a “lawless organisation”, claiming that it tried to identify whistleblowers who provided evidence against it to a parliamentary inquiry, while V’landys claimed Latham was trying to smear him on behalf of racing figures who opposed him and the Rosehill plan.

The privileges committee’s interim report found Racing NSW’s actions were retaliatory, finding it would “never have pursued the investigation and charges” against Latham if not for his opposition to the sale.

It noted the “relatively trivial” nature of the allegations against Latham, and the fact that the ATC had already issued Latham with a 12-month ban over the incident.

While it was only an interim finding, the committee said it would await the findings of Rares’ investigation before making a final decision.