Courtesy The West Australian website:

WA'S three racing codes will have three years to get their financial houses in order as a new era for the industry dawned in State Parliament last night.

Racing and Wagering WA, which will become the industry's new controlling body from August 1, was passed through the Legislative Council at 5.21pm yesterday and is likely to be officially adopted through the Lower House on Tuesday.

Unlikely arbitrators, Greens (WA), forced the two major parties into several compromises.

Contentious amendments successfully included
- give the racing codes just one representative each on the new eight-member board;
- freeze current TAB distribution for the next three years instead of the Labor-proposed two and Liberal-proposed five;

- and establish a joint standing committee review by both houses of Parliament after five years.

The Greens, who hold the balance of power in the Upper House, forced the Liberals to withdraw a proposed five-year sunset clause for the legislation and forced the Government to accept the parliamentary committee review.

Following close votes on all contentious clauses, Racing and Gaming Minister Nick Griffiths and shadow racing minister Barry House heralded exciting times for the industry.

"This package will give the industry a real restart," said Mr Griffiths, who was sporting his new lucky horse racing tie.

"It's been a long day but the industry now has an exciting future and today is the start. If I didn't think this was workable I wouldn't be doing it."

Mr Griffiths said he would immediately turn his attention to the appointment of a chief executive and a chairman of the new body. He hoped to achieve this within the next three weeks.

Choosing a chairman would be a difficult decision but the person needed to be acceptable to all three codes, he said.

Mr House said RWWA would give the industry a balanced approach to the future.

"For the whole racing industry, this is an exciting day and effectively the dawning of a new era," Mr House said.

"As of today, the racing world has moved on."

Greens racing spokesman Jim Scott said he had been lobbied by so many different industry stakeholders, he was still making up his mind on some issues during yesterday's debate.

Earlier in the debate, Mr Griffiths had told the chamber any delay in implementing RWWA would cause the industry to go backwards. He also hinted he would be pushing for more shared facilities within the industry.

"This will mean a better world for all three codes of racing and the sooner it is put in place the better," he said. "The racing industry is a very important industry and I'm doing everything I can to promote it. The future lies in shared facilities."

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