Racing Victoria steps in to help participants as fuel crisis grows
Racing Victoria has announced a package of temporary relief measures aimed at easing cost pressures on industry participants as fuel prices continue to rise across Australia.
The measures, introduced from April 1, follow consultation with key stakeholder groups and come alongside the Federal Government’s decision to halve the fuel excise for three months.
Chief executive Aaron Morrison said the support was designed to help businesses maintain operations and limit additional costs being passed on to owners and staff, with the measures to be reviewed on an ongoing basis.
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“With a large network of country racetracks and training businesses spread across all the regions, our industry is heavily reliant on fuel to compete and thus transportation represents a substantive portion of industry costs,” he said.
“The temporary measures we have announced today are designed to work alongside the Federal Government’s reduction of the fuel excise and removal of the heavy vehicle road user charge to provide some relief to those in our industry, particularly around horse transport.
“With our business support subsidies and the Government relief measures both taking effect from 1 April, we are encouraging training businesses to limit any additional transport costs imposed upon owners and to provide assistance to their employees.
“The measures we’ve announced today come following extensive consultation with stakeholder groups and those discussions will continue regularly in the weeks ahead on the length of time these temporary measures will remain in place.”
Under the plan, licensed trainers will receive a $100 subsidy per starter, while jockeys will be paid $50 per race meeting to help offset increased travel costs. Retrainers and retirement providers involved in the Off The Track program will also receive a 10% boost to subsidies, lifting payments to $165 per horse.
Racing Victoria said horse racing and its heavy reliance on transport, particularly across regional areas, had made it especially vulnerable to fuel price increases.
