LORD MAYOR REIGNITES RACE GROUND DOGFIGHT

BRISBANE’S Lord Mayor today reignited calls for the Bligh Government to scrap controversial plans to move the city’s greyhound racing grounds and sell Albion Park.

Graham Quirk (pictured) claims the State Government’s cancelled plan to move harness racing from Logan to Deagon shows authorities have always been the real decision makers.

“I’ve been calling on the State Government to rein in Racing Queensland’s plans for Deagon from the start and they’ve continually refused, choosing to use them as a scapegoat instead,” he says.

“Yet all of a sudden the (Racing) Minister (Tim Mulherin) is publicly intervening on the eve of an election, proving that the State Government has been pulling the strings all along and using (Racing Qld chairman) Bob Bentley as nothing more than their highly-paid mouthpiece and gatekeeper.

“I call on them to also abandon plans to carve up the entire Albion Park site and sell it off to the highest bidder. It’s sport and recreational land and should remain that way.”

Northside residents, the racing industry and have opposed the proposal by state-funded racing agency Racing Qld to turn the Deagon horse training facility into a full-time greyhound and harness racing track.

The Lord Mayor has also criticised Labor MP Vicki Darling, who he claims has ducked responsibility for the matter, saying the government only took charge of Racing Qld when it was ‘politically favourable’.