Racing NSW drops year-long probe into Mark Latham ‘swearing’ allegation
Racing NSW has dropped a long-running investigation into what it previously alleged was abusive conduct by Mark Latham towards a race club official after a parliamentary committee found it was launched in retaliation for the firebrand MP’s opposition to the Rosehill Gardens racecourse sale.
Racing NSW last year engaged one of Australia’s most senior law enforcement figures to investigate an accusation Latham swore at Steve McMahon, the chief executive of the Australian Turf Club (ATC) and architect of the since-abandoned sale of the racecourse.
It followed a confrontation at Rosehill in March last year which the ATC alleged involved “unprovoked verbal abuse”. Racing NSW appointed Michael Phelan, the former chief executive of the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission and an ex-deputy commissioner of national security with the Australian Federal Police, to probe the allegations. That led to an inquiry presided over by former Federal Court judge Steven Rares.
But more than a year later, the investigation has now been dropped, after the parliament’s powerful privileges committee found in an interim report that Racing NSW’s investigation was a “retaliatory” response to Latham’s high-profile opposition to the proposed sale of Rosehill Racecourse.
The racing regulator now faces the potential of a finding that it acted in contempt of parliament, after the chair of the committee, Labor MP Stephen Lawrence, said the investigation into Latham could have “a tendency to substantially interfere in a member of parliament doing their job”.
The alleged swearing incident occurred in the context of the proposed sale of Rosehill Racecourse to create a “mini-city” of 25,000 new homes. The since-abandoned deal, which was brought to Premier Chris Minns personally by McMahon, a friend of the premier’s, was vehemently opposed by most ATC members, including Latham.
The independent MP helped spearhead opposition to the sale, which was backed by Racing NSW and its chief executive Peter V’landys.
The two men repeatedly locked horns during a fiery parliamentary probe into the Rosehill sale.
Latham accused Racing NSW of acting as a “lawless organisation”, claiming that it tried to identify whistleblowers who provided evidence against it to a parliamentary inquiry, while V’landys claimed Latham was trying to smear him on behalf of racing figures who opposed him and the Rosehill plan.
The privileges committee’s interim report found Racing NSW’s actions were retaliatory, finding it would “never have pursued the investigation and charges” against Latham if not for his opposition to the sale.
It noted the “relatively trivial” nature of the allegations against Latham, and the fact that the ATC had already issued Latham with a 12-month ban over the incident.
While it was only an interim finding, the committee said it would await the findings of Rares’ investigation before making a final decision. It urged Rares to “consider why Racing NSW initiated its investigation into Mr Latham and potentially consider adducing further evidence in relation to this matter”.
Racing NSW’s acting chief executive Graeme Hinton denied the investigation was retaliatory, and said the regulator dropped the case after Latham’s ATC ban.
“We determined to withdraw these charges, considering that Mr Latham had already been punished by the ATC for the same incident, which would have been factored into any penalty,” he said.
“We also strongly reject any assertion that Mr Latham or others had been targeted in any way.”
While the committee is yet to publish its final report, during a speech in parliament on Tuesday night Lawrence said Racing NSW could face a finding of being in contempt of parliament if it could be “conclusively determined” the investigation was retaliatory.
Lawrence said the committee heard evidence Latham had expressed himself to McMahon “in what might be considered to be very firm terms”. An “unpleasant word” may have been used during the interaction, he said. The committee’s interim finding was based on whether Latham would have faced the same investigation if he had been an “ordinary private citizen”.
“[W]ould telling Steve McMahon to ‘f--- off’ and saying the other things he said have led to the two charges being brought against him under the racing rules?” Lawrence said.
“Ultimately the committee concluded that if it could be conclusively determined that the Racing NSW investigation and charges were brought as a retaliatory response to the Hon. Mark Latham’s exercise of his parliamentary functions, it would be a contempt of Parliament because it would be something that would have a tendency to substantially interfere in a member of parliament doing their job,” he said.
Latham declined to comment. At the time he described the investigation as “a grave case of hurt feelings”.
The backdown by Racing NSW came as V’landys suffered a setback in his defamation case against racing news website The Thoroughbred Report, which questioned in 2025 whether it was time for him to move on from the organisation. V’landys claims the article defamed him by suggesting he was a liability to the thoroughbred racing industry.
The publisher sought leave to file an amended defence including details of the way V’landys handled the dispute between Racing NSW and the Australian Turf Club, with “his usual aggressive and combative approach”. V’landys objected.
NSW Supreme Court Justice Stephen Campbell granted leave and ordered V’landys to pay costs.
With Harriet Alexander
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