Court rules on Gloucester Park sale dispute

The Supreme Court of Western Australia has dismissed claims that the voting process on the Gloucester Park land sale was breached but the trial has caused months of delay on the multi-million-dollar project.

Members of the WA Trotting Association, trading as Gloucester Park Harness Racing (GPHR), voted in favour of selling parts of Gloucester Park land to Hesperia at a referendum in October.

The Perth developer has proposed to develop the site into a new town square, hospitality, and entertainment district.

The proposed redevelopment was progressing since its announcement but Former WA Trotting association member Duro Margaretic launched action in the Supreme Court in December, two days before Christmas.

Mr Margaretic alleged the voting process had been compromised because online voting would give way to members possibly voting twice through postal ballots.

He sought court orders that the WA Trotting Association be restrained from continuing with the sale. But in a judgment delivered yesterday, Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Martin found all aspects of Mr Margaretic’s claims have failed.

Justice Martin said the evidence at the four-day trial earlier this year overwhelmingly showed that the electronic voting system could not be misused for a member to vote twice.

Following the court decision, GPHR president John Burt said the action had unnecessarily delayed the progress of the project, including the Racing and Wagering WA-funded racing infrastructure.

“We have always remained confident in the way we conducted the process and that has been affirmed by Justice Martin,” he said.

“Gloucester Park generates over half the code’s wagering revenue, and we are confident that redevelopment of Gloucester Park is the right step to secure the future of harness racing in Western Australia.

“The project will also protect and preserve the heritage of the site and our sport.”

Industry has chipped in $24.7 million to proposed development through Racing and Wagering WA, to fund new racing infrastructure, including stables, lighting and track upgrades.

GPHR said there was a still a lengthy process ahead, with Hesperia to complete the due diligence of the site and negotiations on the development agreement ongoing.

Mr Margaretic also alleged the WA Trotting Association failed to provide balanced support and opposing arguments in its explanatory memorandum of the referendum that was sent to members before the vote.

In his judgment, Justice Martin said there could not always be 'for' and 'against' arguments that would show equal merits.

"Sometimes the merits of a proposal are overwhelming," he said.

"Indeed, albeit it is clear that he [Margaretic] opposed the Hesperia Property redevelopment proposal, the plaintiff chose not to vote in the 2022 referendum as a member - essentially, for tactical reasons going towards his efforts to thwart the achievement of a participation quorum of enough voting members to meet [the] by-law.

“Clearly, he [Margaretic] was very passionate and genuine over his opposing stance taken against the current redevelopment proposal for the redevelopment of Gloucester Park.

“However, my impression was that his passion for this cause has clouded the clarity of his recollection of events and so impacted adversely at times against the reliability of some of his evidence. Because of this, I needed to be cautious about accepting some aspects of his evidence.”

Hesperia’s proposed Gloucester Park redevelopment comprises a 4,000-person theatre space, racetrack renovation, hospitality precinct and high-rise apartment buildings.

A Hesperia spokesperson said the team was pleased with the Supreme Court decision to back the vote by members of the Gloucester Park. 

“The company will now commence the work required to investigate and confirm ground conditions at the site and their suitability for the proposed redevelopment," the spokesperson said.

“This work, and other activities to progress the redevelopment proposal, had been placed on hold until the Supreme Court had made its decision.”

“The project has the potential to achieve an exceptional development outcome for the local community and wider City of Perth and we look forward to progressing through this process with GPHR."

In October, the WA Trotting Association announced majority of the members who voted supported the sale of a 5.9-hectare lot of land out of the 14.7ha Gloucester Park site in East Perth to Hesperia.

The referendum process ended after almost seven weeks with 75 per cent of the association’s membership, 281 people, having casted votes, according to WA Trotting Association.

Out of the 281 votes received, 63 per cent of members voted in favour of the land sale.

Justice Martin said the 2022 referendum was carried comfortably given the significant margins.

"I would provisionally assess as well that there would be unnecessary waste, delay and expense in holding a further referendum upon the same redevelopment proposal, given such healthy margins," he said in yesterday's judgment.