Shameful and cynical are some of the words Premier Chris Minns has used to describe a vote to refer him to the state’s corruption watchdog.
An inquiry will deliver its report on Friday as it probes a pitch to sell the Australian Turf Club’s Rosehill racecourse in western Sydney and convert it into tens of thousands of homes in a deal valued at $5 billion.
But late on Wednesday, the New South Wales premier responded to media reports that the committee conducting the inquiry will ask for a referral to the Independent Commission Against Corruption, describing them as allegations that They are not based on facts or evidence.
“It is shameful to politicize the ICAC with baseless rumours,” said Mr Minns.
“This is an old-fashioned smear by a group of politicians who oppose the changes at Rosehill,” he added.
The baseless accusations were a cynical attempt to score political points, Minns said.
Independent MP Mark Latham, a committee and turf club member, claimed via social media on Thursday that there is evidence to justify the ICAC referral, based on a meeting the Prime Minister had in October 2023.
Minns described the turf club’s head of membership and corporate affairs, Steve McMahon, as a friend of more than 20 years in August, after McMahon appeared at the committee’s investigation earlier that month.
Shameful and cynical are some of the words Premier Chris Minns has used to describe a vote to refer him to the state’s corruption watchdog.
An inquiry into the pitch to sell the Australian Turf Club’s Rosehill racecourse in western Sydney and convert it into tens of thousands of homes in a deal worth $5 billion will deliver its report on Friday.
The committee was told that McMahon presented the idea to turf club president Peter McGauran on October 26, 2023.
The prime minister had a meeting with the grass club four days later, according to ministerial newspapers.
Mr McMahon told the inquiry the meeting was to discuss the idea and the process for presenting it to the government, before investing members’ resources into a proposal.
“You have to make sure that (the government) doesn’t automatically oppose such a thing,” he said.
High-profile racehorse trainer Gai Waterhouse has previously testified that the racing industry is “outraged” by the plan.
In July, he told the parliamentary inquiry into the racing industry that the ATC had no right to accept the sale without a vote from its members.
Waterhouse said members would never agree to sell the historic racetrack.
“We would not be here today to discuss the sale of the SCG cricket ground or Bondi Beach, but we are here to discuss the sale to Rosehill,” Ms Waterhouse told the inquest.
‘The members are the owners of Rosehill. If they put it to a vote now to members, they would be overwhelmingly against the sale.’
The ATC has maintained that the agreement is within its executive jurisdiction.