Cover image courtesy of the NSW State Government
If change is the only consistent thing in politics, then it was especially true in New South Wales recently. After 12 years in opposition, Labor sailed into Macquarie Street under leader Chris Minns, adjusting the state picture dramatically.
Last week, Minns’ new cabinet was both announced and signed in and it was already breaking records.
“For the first time in our state’s history, 50 per cent of ministers will be women,” said the new Premier. “Our government looks like our state, just like it should.”
The new NSW Labor cabinet | Image courtesy of the NSW State Government
The portfolio of racing, however, wasn’t handed to a female minister. Instead, it was given to 57-year-old David Harris, a long-serving member for Wyong who replaces the outgoing Kevin Anderson.
Harris is the new Minister for Gaming and Racing, and he will also handle Aboriginal Affairs and Treaty, Medical Research, Veterans and the Central Coast.
“It’s a daunting challenge to be across all the different portfolios,” he said, speaking to TDN AusNZ. “But I’m very enthusiastic about doing it.”
Harris is relatively new to industry-pressing issues, but he isn’t new to politics. He’s been a member of the legislative assembly since 2017, representing the electorate of Wyong, and he’s held shadow portfolios for multiple years, including Jobs, Investment and Tourism, Regional Transport, Skills and Small Business.
David Harris
It was late on Thursday evening when we caught up with him, the day he was sworn into parliament and just a few hours short of the four-day Easter weekend. He wasn’t in a hurry though and was genuine in his interest to talk racing, and he was frank about his knowledge of it and what will be expected of him.
“I’ve been tasked with the health of the industry, obviously, but I’ll also have a say in regulation,” Harris said. “I’ve had an association with the industry locally on the Central Coast for many years, and I’ve picked up a lot in my shadow portfolios in such things as regional development, jobs and skills.
“The racing industry is one that I’m really interested in, particularly in terms of making sure that regional areas are looked at, and especially given that some of our best horse-breeding country is in regional New South Wales.”
“The racing industry is one that I’m really interested in, particularly in terms of making sure that regional areas are looked at, and especially given that some of our best horse-breeding country is in regional New South Wales.” - David Harris
Harris’ Wyong electorate covers over 640 sq. kilometres of places like Wyong, Wyong Creek, Yarramalong, Ravensdale, Tuggerah and so on. The local population is over 70,000 and, via the Wyong Race Club and ‘nearby’ tracks likes Newcastle and Muswellbrook, it’s a population well-touched by racing’s issues, such as mining in the past.
“I would always be concerned if one industry went ahead, how that would impact on other industries,” Harris said. “I think we have to ensure that there aren’t adverse effects these days on what is prime thoroughbred country, and certainly things like dust impact is very important.”
Things like mining are wider, problematic conversations that New South Wales has been managing for a long time. It’s not a straightforward problem but it has been a well-covered one, so the bigger question might be how across the industry is Harris in its finer detail?
“I received my first briefing on Thursday morning and it was definitely an overview,” he said. “I’m now going through all that detail and having a look at some of the issues that have been highlighted to me. I’ll then have to seek further briefings on specifics.
David Harris wants to make sure we have a healthy industry from breeding through to racing | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
“Certainly going forward, we have to make sure we have a healthy industry from breeding through to training through to making sure there’s appropriate skill development for people working in the industry at all levels. As Minister, I have an overall responsibility to ensure there’s good strategic plans that address not just the issues occurring now, but some of the issues that will face the industry in the future.”
Harris isn’t a racing man by definition, but neither is he a veteran or medical researcher, or any of the other industry careers that his portfolios represent. However, the sport does interest him in both a social and professional sense, which is a good start.
“The first thing that was pointed out to me was that the racing industry is worth about $3.3 billion to New South Wales, which I was quite astounded by,” he said. “I have, through our local race club at Wyong, met and spoken to trainers and jockeys in the past, and I’m a regular visitor there.
“I know some of the difficulties in particular facing provincial tracks, in terms of the cost of running a business in regional New South Wales. And I’m also aware that racing is a major attraction for tourism, which is of huge economic benefit to the state, particularly in how it competes with other states, notably Victoria.”
“The first thing that was pointed out to me was that the racing industry is worth about $3.3 billion to New South Wales, which I was quite astounded by.” - David Harris
Harris was at Day 2 of The Championships on Saturday. He’s already been in and out of Wyong Race Club for years. It seems like he enjoys the sport as a spectacle and is climbing across its true worth to the economic health of New South Wales.
His appointment to the portfolio follows predecessors like Anderson, Paul Toole and Troy Grant in recent cabinets, and before them, George Souris, Michael Egan and right back to Michael Cleary in 1986.
The last Labor Minister for Gaming and Racing was Kevin Greene, who served under the Nathan Rees and Kristina Kenneally governments for close to three years.
Racing itself became a state portfolio in 1986, tossed around with various responsibilities through various changes of government. The portfolio was re-established under the second Perrottet ministry in 2021, with Harris being the 15th incarnation and the seventh for a Labor ministry.
The new NSW Labor cabinet, with David Harris pictured third row from the top, three in | Image courtesy of the NSW State Government
The hot take on welfare
As Harris digests the data on racing, and there’s a lot to digest, we pressed him on one of the more topical issues facing the sport of racing right now – its social licence.
“It’s a fact of life nowadays that any animal-based industry will be under scrutiny,” he said. “But if the racing industry can demonstrate that it has strong underlying principles on animal welfare, and that animal welfare is a key driver of all activity industry-wide, you can answer many of those criticisms.”
“...if the racing industry can demonstrate that it has strong underlying principles on animal welfare, and that animal welfare is a key driver of all activity industry-wide, you can answer many of those criticisms.” - David Harris
Harris speaks with fluidity on this subject, like it’s one he’s ready for. The anti-racing sentiment is hard to ignore these days.
“There will be some people that don’t want racing to occur at all, and they’re entitled to that view,” he said. “But my opinion is that racing underpins so many jobs and so much investment, and it provides a social outlet for people. As long the welfare of the animals is foremost in the industry’s mind, I think it becomes a sustainable thing.”
Harris said that one of his primary roles as the Minister for Gaming and Racing is to scrutinise the perception of racing and its welfare agenda very carefully. He expects nothing less and, he said, the people of the state, including those within the industry, expect or should expect nothing less too.
“The average person just expects that animals are treated with respect and care,” he said. “If that happens, then most will accept that there’s a role for the sport in our social fabric.”
Who is David Harris?
So who, exactly, is the new Minister for Gaming and Racing?
Harris was born and bred on the Central Coast in 1966 from parents that initially cut their teeth in the working class environments of Greenacre and Bankstown in Western Sydney. His father was a salesman and his mum, later on, a school cleaner.
These blue-collar roots have fashioned a lot of principles in his life, including loyalty, work ethic and making ends meet.
David Harris being sworn into parliament before Margaret Beazley AC KC | Image courtesy of the NSW State Government
He was public-school educated at Woy Woy until graduating with a Diploma in Teaching. Thereafter, Harris' first teaching job was at Griffith Public School in 1987, deep in the Riverina, and from there he was appointed the principal of the one-teacher local school at Merriwagga, then Hillston. Since then, he’s been the primary school principal of both Gwandalan and Kariong public schools.
Harris left teaching in 2006 to chase a career in politics, returning to it briefly in 2011. He was the local Member for Wyong from 2007 until 2011, winning back his seat in 2015 until the present day.
“I am married with two daughters,” he said. “One of my daughters is finished uni and the other is about to finish, and I love living on the Central Coast. I was very fortune to be the principal of a little school around Wyong Creek and Yarramalong, which is prime horse country in terms of locations of trainers, etc.
“I think it’s about $150 million of economic value that the local racing industry brings to my electorate, so I’ll be continuing to head out to meet people at Wyong races, and I was only there this morning, chatting with trainers and other participants.”
“I think it’s about $150 million of economic value that the local racing industry brings to my electorate, so I’ll be continuing to head out to meet people at Wyong races, and I was only there this morning, chatting with trainers and other participants.” - David Harris
That particular morning, Harris had been at Wyong races, where he’d run into the local drama group. They were researching the feel of the racecourse for its new play, ‘Ladies Day’, which is about horse racing. Harris is good to pick up on such details.
“When the races are on, you see all sorts of people from across the area,” he said. “People are enjoying themselves, whether they’re winning or losing, and it’s just a great social place to be.”
