by Brian de Lore
Published 20 December 2019
Racing stakeholders frustrated by the apparent lack of action to get the Messara Report implemented and the industry overhauled can now rest assured that plenty of action has been taking place behind the closed doors of NZ First and the DIA.
Evidence of the work already completed by Wellington bureaucrats surfaced late last week when the newly appointed Ministerial Advisory Committee was named and came together at short notice in the Wellington NZ First office of Minister Winston Peters for a 50-minute briefing which preceded the Committee’s first meeting.
With the exception of the inspired choice by the Minister to name former Southlander Dean McKenzie as Chairperson, the other four members were advised of their call-ups relatively close to the meeting and received their 194-page briefing papers only 24 hours prior.
McKenzie was appointed Chairperson about a month ago but was briefed to keep the appointment to himself while the Minister and his team worked on selecting his fellow committee persons.
In addition to McKenzie, the committee consists of Liz Dawson MNZM, Kristy McDonald QC, Bill Birnie CNZM, and well-known owner-breeder and New Zealand Bloodstock Chairperson Sir Peter Vela.
McKenzie who said he was now working daily on achieving the Committee objectives told The Informant, “This is a team of people who all bring their own set of skills to the table. If we were all the same, that would be a concern. But we are a diverse group, and everyone has a background in racing and that’s an important theme in the group.”
Minister Peters who left soon afterward for the USA and wasn’t available for comment this week clearly showed he was applying a hands-on approach to the industry overhaul when he vocalised the Terms of Reference at the briefing, impressing both McKenzie and Vela.
Most of the racing industry is well familiar with both McKenzie and Sir Peter Vela and should be very supportive of their appointments. Bill Birnie, on the other hand, is a lesser known who was appointed to the board of NZRB around August 2017 and only a year ago was awarded a CNZM for his service to governance, the arts and sport.
Birnie is an investment banker who came through the Fay-Richwhite system and has served on the boards of High-Performance Sport New Zealand, the New Zealand Equestrian Federation and is on numerous arts trusts. Animal welfare activists will be relieved to know that Birnie is currently a trustee of Pet Refuge New Zealand.
The two other members of the committee are both highly credentialed in their fields and do know the racing industry. Liz Dawson MNZM is currently a director of New Zealand Cricket, Hurricanes Ltd, St Kilda Football Club (Melbourne) and is also a board member of the New Zealand Olympic Committee.
She was also formerly on the boards of the NZRB (2013-17), NZ Greyhounds (2005-07) and South Australian Greyhounds (2000-02) amongst many others. Her success in both governance and racing, it has to be said, makes her a valuable member of this committee.
Likewise, Kristy McDonald QC is highly experienced in both matters of law and governance and is currently part of the counsel working on Operation Burnham as well as being Deputy Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, and board member of ACC – with ACC levies for jockeys and trainers set to rise 15 percent in 2019 McDonald may well prove to be an inspired appointment.
The industry knows that racing has been indifferently administered for a long period and the introduction of the ‘gender equality’ policy on the surface of it could be seen as a hindrance to just getting the best people. But as a brains trust these five are right up there, and if gender equality rids racing of its endemic tradition of being nothing more than ‘old boys clubs’ then it will be doing the industry a favour.
Chairperson Dean McKenzie’s appointment, though, is a revelation because he’s highly credentialed with a record of success everywhere he’s been. McKenzie started his career as an accountant in Invercargill before going on to be Racing Manager at the Southland Racing Club.
The 52-year-old McKenzie over the past 25-years has been the Chief Executive at the Wellington Racing Club, Jade Stadium Limited, the New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club and for the past two years at Original Foods Baking Company in a departure from racing.
“We need to support the Minister because he’s given this industry an opportunity to change itself,” McKenzie said this week. “Everything is set out in the Terms of Reference, and that’s what we have got to do. We can’t say much more at this stage other than to emphasise that the Terms tell everyone what we are doing.
“We have an interim report to be completed by the end of February, and then in March the government will come back with a decision on the Messara Report recommendations at which time the Minister may fine-tune the process going forward.”
McKenzie did both a BA and BC at Otago University before entering accountancy and afterward went off to the USA to do a Master of Sports Administration at Ohio University. He grew up in a thoroughbred breeding and racing family environment understands the game as well as anyone, and spent six years administering harness racing at Addington. He has succeeded everywhere.
Most of all, McKenzie understands the industry intricately from all angles; in a business sense he is tough and uncompromising, and in many ways is not unlike John Messara who wrote the Report which is now the blueprint upon which this industry, led by McKenzie, will attempt to undergo the biggest metamorphous of change in its history.
“Most people want things to happen quickly, McKenzie continued, “and although we will be going as fast as we can we clearly have to follow a process and that process has been mapped out for us. The timeframe is very tight because Wellington closes down for a considerable period from before Christmas, but we are very confident we will meet the deadline.”
McKenzie has the ability and passion, particularly when fully supported by Sir Peter Vela, to carry the Messara Report right through to a full conclusion. That is not in any way belittling the future input of McDonald, Dawson and Birnie but only to say McKenzie and Vela have a deep passion for the business and have no record of surrendering to a job half done.
No one in New Zealand has more skin in the game than Vela. He owns New Zealand Bloodstock which is the lifeblood of the breeding industry; he owns Pencarrow Stud which is one of the institutional success stories of New Zealand breeding, and the Vela colours of blue and white hoops now grace the racecourses probably more occasions than any other.
But knowing who the ‘famous five’ are now leads to the question of what is expected of them from Minister Winston Peters and what powers do they possess. The short answer is that they possess very little power but are expected to deliver quite a lot.
The committee will be remunerated in the same manner as any board; no one gives this sort of expertise for free – it requires a substantial time input, sharp decision making and drawing on all the experience – the very reason for their appointments in the first place.
Along with the Ministerial press release to announce the arrival of the committee last week was attached the ‘Terms of Reference’ under which the rules are defined. In the first instance, it should be clarified that this committee is not RITA, and it’s RITA that will potentially come into existence on July 1st that will possess all the power.
RITA, meaning Racing Industry Transitional Authority, will only come about once the legislation empowers it, and that will not be before July 1st, 2019. When that occurs the NZRB will most likely change to Wagering NZ, the Ministerial Advisory Committee will have run its course and be defunct, and RITA will have the power to carry every agreed-upon reform forward and through to a finite conclusion.
Just who or what RITA is will be dependent on events between now and the end of June. In the Terms of Reference, the Minister requires “The Committee will provide an interim report to the Minister for Racing by 28 February 2019.” But after that, the Terms also gives the Minister some flexibility to make changes in the wording. The Government is expected to make decisions on the recommendations of the Messara Report in March 2019.
The announcement will identify which of the Report’s recommendations the Government agrees to implement and at this time the Minister of Racing may provide the Committee with further direction about its direction of travel.”
Earlier in the Terms of Reference it says, “The Government is committed to reforming the New Zealand racing industry and seeks the scoping up of a detailed plan to operationalise the Messara Report, the ‘Review of the New Zealand Racing Industry’s’ recommendations once approved by Cabinet, to deliver better governance and economic outcomes for the industry.
“To enable the timely delivery of a racing reform programme, a Ministerial Advisory Committee (the Committee) is being created as a precursor to a Racing Industry Transitional Authority being established in legislation (subject to future Government decisions on the recommendations of the Messara Report).”
The Committee, according to the terms of reference under the heading of ‘Purpose of the Committee’ says, “will be charged foremost with setting a sense of direction for the intended racing reforms with particular focus on prioritising those recommendations that have been identified as the main drivers required for successful industry reform.
“This will provide the basis for a prioritised work plan for the Committee, to be provided to the Minister of Racing early in 2019. It is also charged with scoping up the operational decision points (whether technical, legal, financial or process orientated) for racing reform, engaging with industry throughout, and offer analysis to the Minister for Racing on opportunities (i.e., the industry’s untapped potential) as well as roadblocks to returning the industry to a well-managed and sustainable economic growth path.”
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