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Speaker 1: But we know that Thoroughbred Racing NT and the Northern

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Speaker 1: Territory Government have now signed a new ten year funding

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Speaker 1: agreement which industry say is going to ensure the future

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Speaker 1: of racing in the territory for the foreseeable future. Now

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Speaker 1: joining me on the line to tell us a little

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Speaker 1: bit more about it is Sid Sterling, the chair of

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Speaker 1: Thoroughbred Racing here in the Northern Territory. Good morning to you, Sid,

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Speaker 1: Good morning Katie, Thanks so much for your time. Sid.

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Speaker 1: The most recent five year agreement, as I understand it,

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Speaker 1: it expired on the thirtieth of June. Since then, I

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Speaker 1: know that the Thoroughbred Racing NT board and management have

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Speaker 1: indeed been working with the Northern Territory Government to try

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Speaker 1: to secure a new contract or a new agreement, and

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Speaker 1: one has now been secured. Sid, what exactly does it entail?

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Speaker 2: And Katie, we resume this ten year agreement on the

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Speaker 2: base level of funding that we had going back to

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Speaker 2: two sixteenth So it's a tide agreement given CPI since then.

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Speaker 2: And our mission of course is to both sustain and

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Speaker 2: increase the strength of raising across the Northern Territory and

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Speaker 2: the best way to do that of course is providing

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Speaker 2: stakes increases, because that's what drives horse ownership, that's what

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Speaker 2: pet horses into trainer stands and on at the track.

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Speaker 2: So we'll be looking very closely at our own operations

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Speaker 2: across our tracks in the North Churchory, looking to see

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Speaker 2: if we can do things better, and we'll be looking

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Speaker 2: at our own source revenue and how we strengthen that

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Speaker 2: into the future in order to be able to provide

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Speaker 2: for those very necessary states increases, which I'm included in

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Speaker 2: this agreement.

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Speaker 1: All right, So just to sort of, I guess, get

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Speaker 1: into the nitty gritty of it, because I know this,

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Speaker 1: we'd obviously been in a situation where there had been

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Speaker 1: an offer put on the table by the Northern Territory government.

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Speaker 1: I guess it was a couple of months back. Sid.

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Speaker 1: Is that is that the offer that you've gone with

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Speaker 1: or have there been some changes to us?

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Speaker 2: Well? Sorry, okay, I've got progging. That's all right, all good,

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Speaker 2: some minor changes throughout the agreement, but the big ticket items,

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Speaker 2: the level of based funding didn't change from the outset.

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Speaker 2: But we worked away at a few issues and got

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Speaker 2: some changes and so.

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Speaker 1: Essentially, so what exactly is the base funding and is

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Speaker 1: it going to mean as well. I know there had

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Speaker 1: been that discussion that there was going to have to

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Speaker 1: be reduced funding I thought for the Darwin Turf Club

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Speaker 1: or for racing here in Darwin, but a greater focus

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Speaker 1: on the regents.

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Speaker 2: There is an increased emphasis on infrastructure funding to the

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Speaker 2: three bush tracks, that's Tenant Creek, Catherine and adelais Griver.

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Speaker 2: Alice Brings retains most of its funding, but Darwin are

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Speaker 2: restricted in the amount of maintenance funding and infrastructure funding.

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Speaker 2: I suppose that that tarrantee, well, it's not allowed for

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Speaker 2: in the agreement. It doesn't restrict how much t R

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Speaker 2: and T or give Darwen, but they're not allowed for

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Speaker 2: in the agreement. So that's another challenge both for Darn

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Speaker 2: Turf Club and the t R and T because there's

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Speaker 2: big works required at a Dawn Turf Club over the

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Speaker 2: next few years.

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Speaker 1: Yeah okay, so yeah, I'm just having a look at

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Speaker 1: it now. So an annual base amount of seventeen point

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Speaker 1: eighty eight million, but there is that breakdown from what

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory Government had said back in July. That

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Speaker 1: breakdown for the Alice Springs, Tenant Creek, Catherine, Adelaide River

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Speaker 1: Turf Clubs.

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Speaker 2: Yes, so if you take CPI over the last well

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Speaker 2: we're now talking six years plus, it's pretty high at

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Speaker 2: the moment. Yeah, it does put pressure on us to

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Speaker 2: get those increases in stakes into the system over the

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Speaker 2: next two years, and we desperately need those because you know,

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Speaker 2: barring a horse, the cost have gone up, the cost

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Speaker 2: of feed has gone up, trainers costs have gone up

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Speaker 2: as the bills for the owners get ever higher, and

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Speaker 2: if we don't put takes up at least commensurate with that,

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Speaker 2: we'll start losing ground.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and I suppose what this means as well is that,

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Speaker 1: you know, in light of the agreement rate being reached,

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Speaker 1: will it mean there's those previous directions for the turf

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Speaker 1: club to repay that twelve million dollars that's no longer

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Speaker 1: going to apply.

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Speaker 2: No, that's gone off the books. And of course that

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Speaker 2: was you know, a massive relief for both the day

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Speaker 2: and turf Club and pour Tea guaranteed it wasn't a

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Speaker 2: viable proposition. Look, I think government have been sensible about that,

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Speaker 2: and we thank them. I do want to. I shouldn't

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Speaker 2: single anyone out, but there's a couple of public servants

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Speaker 2: inside racing and gaming. You deserve a lot of credit

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Speaker 2: and good friends of the racing industry understand the racing

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Speaker 2: industry and and port hard for the racing industry in

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Speaker 2: terms of what what what eventually was in the agreement.

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Speaker 2: So we thank them, thanks, thank them for that, and

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Speaker 2: we thank the Minister for the agreement. We look forward

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Speaker 2: to getting getting on with it. But look, the most

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Speaker 2: important thing for the industry is the stability and certainty

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Speaker 2: going forward. You're never going to get everything that you want, okay,

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Speaker 2: particularly in a pretty tight fiscal times, aren't we you know,

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Speaker 2: and well government we've got a lot of debt. We

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Speaker 2: have to recognize that, acknowledge that we get on with business.

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Speaker 1: And sid what's the reaction. I know that you know

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Speaker 1: obviously all of the different turf clubs you would have

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Speaker 1: indeed been liaising with all of them. But is this

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Speaker 1: new funding agreement. Do you think that it's going to

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Speaker 1: have a detrimental impact for the Darwin Turf Club or

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Speaker 1: is it going to be workable.

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Speaker 2: It'll be workable, will mitigate any effects on Darwen And

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Speaker 2: as I said, there's a number of things that we

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Speaker 2: can do and look at intively and own source revenue

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Speaker 2: and makeup that difference that we might otherwise have got.

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Speaker 1: And seed for the regions. Are they all pretty happy

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Speaker 1: that the agreement's been reached and that there is going

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Speaker 1: to be that additional funding towards or directed towards them.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, they'd be delighted. Of course, these three tracks raced

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Speaker 2: only once per year. They used to race that Catherine

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Speaker 2: used to race a couple of times, as did Tenant

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Speaker 2: Creek in the past, but it was and Adelaide River

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Speaker 2: indeed had multiple meetings. But over the years it was

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Speaker 2: found that there was a big occasion the first meeting

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Speaker 2: and the Cup carnival, and the second meeting was difficult

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Speaker 2: to get people there, both both horses, trainers, owners and

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Speaker 2: of course the public. And if you don't get the public,

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Speaker 2: you lose ground very quickly. So they became once a

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Speaker 2: year tracks, So we need you need to be mindful

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Speaker 2: of that and just how much is feasible and viable

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Speaker 2: that can be spent on the track of earning races

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Speaker 2: once a year.

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Speaker 1: And sid to anybody out there listening this morning, who

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Speaker 1: is thinking, you know, it's an enormous amount of money

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Speaker 1: for the industry. Why do they need to be provided

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Speaker 1: such a huge annual base amount of money. What would

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Speaker 1: you say to them.

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Speaker 2: Well, there's a thousand jobs associated in and around the

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Speaker 2: industry with its support with its support industries, that's seventeen

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Speaker 2: point eight million that goes to territory racing bins off

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Speaker 2: about one hundred and thirty million across territory wide expenditure

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Speaker 2: into what we call gross domestic product, and that of

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Speaker 2: course that expenditure attracts GST back from the Commonwealth at

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Speaker 2: a very generous rate compared to the other states. So

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Speaker 2: you have to look at that and think that probably

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Speaker 2: returns you know, forty to sixty million somewhere in that

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Speaker 2: root somewhere in that region, depending on what our relative

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Speaker 2: factor is at any given time in comparison to the

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Speaker 2: other state. So it's a viable industry, it's a strong

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Speaker 2: industry that provides a good, healthy employment, and of course

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Speaker 2: there's a GST factor back to the modern territory government

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Speaker 2: at the end of it all. So we've just got

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Speaker 2: to keep on well.

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Speaker 1: Sid Sterling, I always appreciate your time. Thank you very

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Speaker 1: much for having a chat with us this morning and

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Speaker 1: talking us through that new ten year funding Agreement