CALLED off, then declared on again within hours, the traditional Goulburn Show has been axed for 2016.
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Goulburn Mulwaree Council general manager Warwick Bennett issued a cutting media release on Monday afternoon, calling the AP&H Show Society at fault for cancelling next year’s event on March 5 and 6.
The Show Society had been doublebooked on those dates with the Goulburn Harness Racing Club.
Mr Bennett issued his statement an hour after meeting with the Show Society, where the latter had told the council the 2016 Show would be cancelled because of insurance concerns about the harness racing.
Yet by Tuesday morning, Mr Bennett issued a second statement declaring the council would run its own show. The community had expressed “overwhelming disappointment” in the cancellation, Mr Bennett said.
But the Show Society is wielding a sharpened blade of its own, criticising the council for taking seven weeks to tell them there had been a double booking wth the harness racing club at the Recreation Area.
The Society immediately entered into talks with the harness racing club, Society representatives said.
The $12,500 Tom and Angela Hewitt Memorial, along with the $12,500 Goulburn Sapling Stakes and the $12,500 Walla Walla Stakes, were still scheduled for Sunday March 6, 2016 on the Post going to Press.
AP&H president Jacki Waugh said the Show Society had asked the harness racing club to change the date of their March pacing meeting, “but they didn’t want to from the very beginning”.
Some shows, such as Dubbo, have harness events in their program, but Harness Racing NSW guidelines insist only ‘show racing’ may be held during show events, ruling out prize money or on-course betting.
The Agricultural Society Council of NSW (ASCNSW) oversees the Goulburn Show, and many competitors use it to qualify for Sydney’s Royal Easter Show. It’s as yet unclear whether any council-run show would accord with the ASCNSW, potentially ruling out many competitors who would use it to qualify for the Sydney show.
Show Society vice-president Peter Saville said the booking had been “made with and accepted by Goulburn Mulwaree Council in early March this year”, and not Goulburn Events Management, who manage Veolia Arena.
“From there, we set about promoting and advertising the 2016 Show.
Late April, we were advised by the Harness Racing Club that they’d booked the venue as well for a meet,” Mr Saville said. “Jacki and I met with two representatives from Harness less than a week later to discuss issues and concerns we had.
“We immediately sought advice from our insurance,” who told the Show Society the risks were “enormous”, with extra horse and truck activity on site and potential pedestrian access to the track during races.
“We conducted a risk assessment and found a whole range of issues.
We provided those risk issues to our insurer, and they advised us that under no circumstances could those two events take place at the same venue on the same day, given the risks that harness racing was bringing to our event,” Mr Saville said.
“We have, in good faith, told our insurer of all these risks. Harness have not come back with any insurance policy to do anything. The council has not come back with an insurance policy to cover it.
“Even if the council did come back to us with an insurance policy to cover both events, we as a group have raised significant risk management issues. Therefore, if both events were to go ahead, and there was an incident as a result, the indemnity would be squashed because we’ve flagged all these risks.”
Moving the Show a day earlier to Friday “was never an option”, Mrs Waugh said. “It takes us all week to set up. On a Friday you’d get no one there. School kids don’t get the day off. It’s just not feasible.
“The council’s inability or unwillingness to support us in providing the safest possible environment for our annual two-day community event has led to the committee taking the view it cannot accept any possibility of harm to our 7000 visitors, participants, exhibitors, volunteers and the public at large.
“Instead of accepting its responsibilities to adjudicate in a manner for the best results for Goulburn and the community, the council has sought to shift the blame onto the Goulburn Show Society.”
In his Monday statement, Mr Bennett said the council was “extremely disappointed” the Show was cancelled.
He blasted the Show Society for showing “no flexibility or willingness to compromise”, labelling them “irresponsible”, and that it was “absolutely vital the community understand this was a Goulburn AP&H Society decision”.
“This is very sad for the Goulburn Mulwaree community, as there is absolutely no reason to have cancelled the show,” Mr Bennett said. “Both the council and the Goulburn Harness Racing Club have worked tirelessly with the Goulburn AP&H Society to make these events happen together for the benefit of the community.”
