NRL boss Peter V’landys has launched an extraordinary bid to uncover what critics of his have said about him privately by having a subpoena served on former NSW government minister Brad Hazzard.
The sports administrator is attempting to get his hands on confidential submissions to the so-called Hazzard report into racing as part of his defamation battle against an Australian racing website.
A retired former state attorney-general and health minister, Hazzard interviewed dozens of participants in the $3.3 billion racing industry after being commissioned by the Minns government to undertake a review.
He has now been brought into V’landys’ bitter legal dispute with racing site The Thoroughbred Report and its owner Vicky Leonard over an article that questioned whether his stewardship of the NRL was distracting him from his long-time job as chief executive of Racing NSW.
The subpoena issued to Hazzard directs him to turn over any communications he had with Leonard and associates of hers about V’landys as well as submissions made to him that mention V’landys.
The move could potentially have major ramifications for other government reviews if the names of people who spoke to the former minister are revealed in the court action.
A furious Hazzard is challenging it, as is the state government, who were represented by separate lawyers during a brief appearance in the NSW Supreme Court on Tuesday.
Hazzard told this masthead the integrity of his review was based around an expectation that the identities and comments of those who took part would be protected.
“As a former NSW health minister and attorney-general, I agreed to undertake a review of the Thoroughbred Racing Act for the NSW government. At all times, the review process was predicated on those making submissions feeling confident that their submissions would be treated confidentially,” he said.
“I expected and believed that the process would be respected by all in the industry and until receipt of the subpoena I believe that is precisely what had happened.”
V’landys is overseas and declined to comment.
V'landys viewed the story in The Thoroughbred Report as a call to arms against him because it included a link at the bottom encouraging readers to have their say on Hazzard’s review.
He claims in the defamation suit that it contained misinformation about the shape of the racing industry under his leadership and wrongly suggested the time he dedicated to running rugby league was taking away from his responsibilities.
Leonard herself subpoenaed the Australian Rugby League Commission in pursuit of documents relating to V’landys and also sought access to his medical records, before agreeing to cease those efforts in May.
Hazzard was appointed by the government in August last year, three months after the proposed sale of Rosehill Gardens racecourse for housing was voted down , and tendered his report in July.
Hazzard said it was up to the government to decide when to release it but said he was now “concerned that what was a respectful review has been dragged into somebody else’s defamation proceedings”.
V’landys’ subpoena to Hazzard does not call for the ex-minister to provide the court with his full report.
There has been much speculation within racing about its contents, as well as about who is paying for V’landys’ defamation proceedings, which prominent barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC is fronting for him.
Racing Minister David Harris has been asked in parliamentary hearings whether Racing NSW was footing the bill.
“Personally, I don’t know,” Harris said when asked in a hearing in August. Upon further questioning, he added that such issues were matters for the board of Racing NSW, which operates independently of government.
The serving of Hazzard with a subpoena comes nearly a year after this masthead revealed that V’landys had become aware of aspects of a confidential meeting between the former minister and members of the NSW Trainers Association.
An angry V’landys subsequently turned down an invitation to a barbecue from NSW Trainers Association chairman, businessman and Melbourne Cup-winning owner Richard Pegum, who he put on the board of the NRL-owned PNG Chiefs team.
Hazzard said at the time he would never break the trust of those he gathered information from, stressing his independence.
His report could have implications for Racing NSW’s wide-reaching commercial and regulatory powers, which are underpinned by state legislation.
V’landys has been on long-service leave from Racing NSW since July, when he stepped in as acting NRL chief executive to replace the departed Andrew Abdo.
He will officially leave racing in five weeks after 22 years in charge, having become full-time executive chairman of the Australian Rugby League Commission last month.
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