News

AJC rebels hit a snag with mix-up

25th Feb 2009

Sydney Morning Herald - Andrew Stevenson - Thursday, 26 February 2009

THE bid by a rebel ticket to wrest control of the Australian Jockey Club from the incumbent board hit a stumbling block yesterday when one of those named on the ticket, Cameron Horne, confirmed he would not stand for a position as a director.

Horne, a corporate adviser, was listed on the petition for a general meeting lodged by the Save Our AJC group on Monday as having "consented in writing" to be elected as a director.

Horne said last night he had not filled in the appropriate forms. "I never signed a consent," he said.

He did meet with some of the rebel ticket members but swears he has never met two of the people running on the ticket led by Sydney lawyer Alan Osburg.

"How could it be a unified ticket when we've never met each other?" he said last night.

Osburg's group lodged a petition of more than 100 member signatures with the AJC on Monday calling for a general meeting with the intention of turfing out all but one of the directors. Horne's withdrawal - after he was named in one of the resolutions for the meeting - may force the rebel ticket to lodge a fresh petition.

Meanwhile, chairman Ross Smyth-Kirk has offered to meet Osburg. The battle for control of the august racing club is set to overshadow Sydney's main racing season and is likely to take nearly three months to resolve.

Responding to the accusation that his board is dysfunctional, faction-ridden and operating "outside of AJC rules and governance requirements", Smyth-Kirk defended his reign.

"One thing I do know about is corporate governance and one thing anyone who knows me, or has been on a board with me, will tell you, I'm a stickler for it," he said. "It is one of my pet things. We don't want to get into the gutter with these people. I would be happy to sit down with Alan Osburg because I really don't know what he is getting at with these sweeping statements that do not clarify anything."

Smyth-Kirk condemned the timing of the move, with the autumn carnival so close and the AJC and Sydney Turf Club having agreed to a report into the benefits of the two clubs merging.

Osburg said the timing was pure coincidence "except to say a merger of the two clubs would be a pretty momentous move and we, being the candidates for the board and many, many other members to whom I have spoken, are not confident that the existing board is up to the mark in properly assessing the situation".

He said his ticket's position on a merger would be guided by the independent report, soon to be commissioned by the NSW Racing Minister Kevin Greene. "Our attitude is the same, exactly, as the STC, namely that we are very keen to see the recommendations of the independent report," he said. "If we think it all hangs together well and makes good sense then obviously that will be fairly persuasive."

Osburg, a friend of former STC director Nick Moraitis, said the STC had gone ahead in leaps and bounds. "The AJC used to be the premier club in NSW, if not Australia, and it's just been allowed to lose ground at an alarming rate."