AFTER almost two years of public discussion and debate, commercial horse trainers have been quietly given state government-approved licences to train on two Moyne Shire beaches.
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Warrnambool Racing Club (WRC) was given permission to issue the licences from June 15 after the state government changed the regulations on the Crown Reserve Act relating to the Belfast Coastal Reserve.
But no formal announcement has been made on the matter.
WRC chief executive Peter Downs said the club didn’t “think there was a need for an announcement”.
“We’ve spoken to our key stakeholders and that was as far as we thought it needed to go,” Mr Downs said, adding he didn’t think there was “as much interest” in the matter as some people made out.
A spokesperson for the state environment minister did not respond to questions about a formal announcement or why one wasn’t made.
The licences allow up to 15 horses a day at The Cutting east of Killarney between dawn and 10am from May 1 to August 31, while Golfies at the eastern end of East Beach will host 50 horses a day between dawn and 10am from December 1 to March 1, and 20 horses per day between dawn and 10am from March 2 to November 30.
Bill Yates from Belfast Coastal Reserve Action Group, which led the opposition to the granting of licences, said the group had not been informed of the introduction of licences despite making a submission to the state environment minister Lily D’Ambrosio.
“I find it a bit odd or perplexing because it’s been a big issue,” Mr Yates said.
“No one outside the racing club, DELWP (the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning), and the minister’s office knows what the rules are.
“We had some idea licences might have been issued a while ago, but we were not officially told. We asked DELWP about it and we were told we would have to (put in a) Freedom of Information (application) to find anything out.
“We hadn’t been able to confirm it (that licences have been introduced). We put in a submission to the minister’s office some time ago (and) I thought we would have been told the licences had been issued or that an announcement would have been made.”
Greens environment spokesperson Ellen Sandell also criticised the secrecy surrounding the matter, saying there was also a lack of consultation.
“The Labor Government has done a deal with the racing industry behind closed doors to allow up to 65 horses to trample these beaches every day,” Ms Sandell said.
"This has involved almost no consultation with the community, giving locals no say in what happens to their beaches.
"The Greens had a motion tabled in Parliament to block this licensing scheme because it lacked transparency and would destroy local beaches."
Mr Downs said the WRC had issued licences to four trainers at Golfies, and 20 trainers at The Cutting. He said the latter beach was only seeing “10 or 12” horses a day use it, and the number caps had not been breached at either beach.
WRC employs “full-time supervisors” at each of the two beaches, who patrol from before dawn until 10am to ensure compliance with the state government’s new regulations, he said.
Mr Downs said trainers were being charged $4.50 a day to use the beaches and were billed monthly, with the supervisors noting which trainers attended.
According to the Victorian Government Gazette, the new rules in the Belfast Coastal Reserve state “an authorised officer may, in the interests of safety of persons using the reserve, direct a person to leave the reserve”.
It also sets out penalty units for various offences, including unlicensed horses in the reserve (approximately $3171) and failure to remove animal faeces ($1585).
There are also $3171 fines applicable for damage caused to flora, animals, nests, vegetation, rock formations, or archaeological remains in the reserve.
The regulations state “a person must not ride or lead a racehorse in the reserve unless that person does so under and in accordance with a licence issued” by the WRC.
