‘Toxicity’ leads to director quitting
RACING Australia has taken another hit with a respected director quitting the sport’s “dysfunctional” peak governing body over “toxicity” at board level and inaction on animal welfare.
In a damning resignation letter addressed to her fellow directors, Tasmanian racing figure and breeder Robyn Whishaw laid bare her “deep disappointment and frustration”.
Whishaw, who recently retired as a Tasracing director, was asked to continue to represent her state on the board of RA. She declined.
“Put bluntly, there are only so many times you can bang your head against a brick wall before you choose to stop,” Whishaw wrote, in her letter obtained by
News Corp.
“RA is supposed to be a national body working for the whole of the Australian Racing Industry, but to me it appears to be failing in that objective.”
It comes just days after combative Racing NSW launched legal action against fellow Principal Racing Authorities, including Racing Victoria, amid concerns about “anti-competitive behaviour”.
Racing faces a number of challenges off the track, including animal welfare, worker shortages and scheduling of the racing calendar.
“It is to my deep disappointment and frustration that RA appears to have made little or no progress on any of these issues, since my time on the board,” Whishaw wrote.
“Perhaps the clearest example of this failure was the response to allegations of mistreatment of retired racehorses aired by the ABC’s 7.30 program back in October 2019.
“The toxicity at meetings has meant we have not had a chairman in almost a year.”