WAGRA Annual Report 2008-2009 - Greyhounds WA

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WAGRA Committee WESTERN AUSTRALIAN GREYHOUND RACING ASSOCIATION Annual Report 2008/2009 CHAIRMAN Patricia Tassell Managing Director Appointed to the WAGRA Committee 31 August 2004 (Chairman from 28 April 2005) DEPUTY CHAIRMAN Ray Whitby Semi-retired/Importer Appointed to the WAGRA Committee 27 April 2004 (Deputy Chairman from 21 August 2004) COMMITTEE MEMBER Michael D Penson FCMA FCPA FCIS Accountant Appointed to the WAGRA Committee 28 April 2005. COMMITTEE MEMBER Margaret Choules Long-term greyhound industry participant. Appointed to the WAGRA Committee 2 June 2003. COMMITTEE MEMBER Tony Glenny Long-term greyhound industry participant. Appointed to the WAGRA Committee 1 June 2005. The Western Australian Greyhound Racing Association (WAGRA) and the Committee are committed to achieving the highest standards of corporate governance. The Chairman and Committee members are responsible to the Minister for Racing and Gaming for the performance of the organisation and seek to achieve objectives in keeping with WAGRA’s Charter and Mission Statements. Day to day management of the Association and the implementation of organisational strategy and policy initiatives are formally delegated by the Committee to the Chief Executive Offi cer and senior Management. The Committee’s overall responsibilities include: • Providing strategic direction and approving corporate strategies. • Monitoring management and fi nancial performance and recording. • Monitoring and ensuring the maintenance of adequate risk management controls and reporting mechanisms. • Ensuring the business is conducted ethically and transparently. 2
WESTERN AUSTRALIAN GREYHOUND RACING ASSOCIATION Annual Report 2008/2009 Chairman’s Report It is my pleasure on behalf of my fellow Committee members to provide the Chairman’s Report for 2008/2009. The past 12 months have been the most challenging of my term as Chairman, with a great deal of the Association’s time and energy devoted to the retention of metropolitan greyhound racing on the expiry of the Cannington lease in July 2011. There is little doubt that the option of consolidating greyhound racing at Mandurah could have become reality without WAGRA’s intervention, the overwhelming industry feeling, and a public petition containing almost 7,000 signatures. The welcomed breakthrough on the Cannington tenure issue came with the realisation that Greyhounds WA and the landlord (Canning Agricultural Horticultural & Recreational Society) needed to work together for mutual benefit. Both parties agreed it was time to come to the negotiation table and with the appointment of a trusted mediator it paved the way for the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Saturday 21 February 2009. Symbolically the signing of the MOU, in front of a 3,000-strong crowd that attended the Save Cannington Race Night, made an abundantly clear statement that greyhound racing deserves nothing less than a city headquarters, and that Cannington should remain, as it has been for the past 35 years, the traditional home of greyhound racing in WA. The MOU reads: Together CAHRS and WAGRA recognise the need to work in concert, with mutual respect, to achieve a long term solution ensuring that greyhound racing in Western Australia retains a metropolitan presence in Cannington and that both parties may benefi t from the potential development of the land owned by CAHRS. To advance the purpose detailed in the MOU the parties agree that they jointly investigate the following over the next 12 months: • Renegotiate lease arrangements which are sustainable in the long term for both parties. • The redevelopment potential of the land owned by CAHRS incorporating the leased area to WAGRA. • The development of new streamline facilities for greyhound racing with the aim of increasing the revenue potential and/or reduction in the on-going operating costs for WAGRA. • Maximise the revenue potential for CAHRS that may result from the potential development of its landholdings. The potential development of the site can be described as follows: • A new Greyhound Facility on an area of approximately 5.8 ha located at the northern side of the site. • Re-development and expansion of the Canning Show Grounds and Cultural Exhibition Centre by the addition of an extra exhibition hall, arts and crafts centre, performing arts centre, recreation and sports pavilion and associated community facilities to accommodate the annual Canning Show and special public events. • A commercial/retail area of approximately 3.4 ha bounded by Albany Highway and Liege Street. Much work including the formulation of conceptual plans and cost benefi t analysis have been undertaken since the signing of the MOU, and both WAGRA and CAHRS are continuing along the path established by the Joint Management Committee. Importantly the communication between the landlord and tenant is stronger than it has ever been before and the maintenance of that relationship will be pivotal going forward. WAGRA remain confident that metropolitan greyhound racing will have a secure and sustainable long-term future. However any solution will require the continued co-operation and goodwill of both parties and the future support of Racing and Wagering WA, the WA Government and the City of Canning. Putting aside the issue of tenure, Greyhounds WA centred much of our energies on reinforcing greyhound industry’s importance to the whole of racing. In February 2009, WAGRA addressed the Racing and Wagering Western Australia’s Board on a number of matters, including the metropolitan racing issue. The submission focused on greyhound racing’s substantial contribution to the racing and wagering industry in Western Australia and the need for that fact to be better recognised in future RWWA Distribution Models. 3
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WAGRA Annual Report 2008-2009 - Greyhounds WA

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