Council
20 December, 2025
Race club will be allowed to apply for small grants
The Bong Bong Picnic Race Club will continue to be allowed to apply for small grants from Wingecarribee Shire Council after a decision at its December meeting.
The Bong Bong Picnic Race Club will continue to be allowed to apply for small grants from Wingecarribee Shire Council after a decision at its December meeting.
Under council’s updated Community Financial Assistance Framework and Community Financial Associate Policy, organisations and events that “promote, support or are associated with gambling” would have been ruled ineligible.
However council resolved to remove the words, paving the way for the race club to continue to apply for small grants to help with things such as marketing and promotion.
The amendment to the staff recommendation was moved by Cr Sara Moylan and seconded by mayor Jesse Fitpatrick.
As previously reported by The Southern Wire, council resolved at its October meeting not to provide the club with a grant to promote its annual race meeting after Crs Heather Champion and Rachel Russell argued it was an inappropriate use of council funds.
It also resolved at the October meeting to include the stipulation in the updated policy that it does not support gambling activity.
Four councillors – Jesse Fitpatrick, David Kent, Sara Moylan and Nicole Smith – were absent from the chamber for the October debate after declaring a significant, non-pecuniary interest in the item being discussed.
Cr Champion was absent from the December meeting following the birth of her baby daughter.
Cr Moylan argued at the December meeting that it wasn’t council’s role “to look after what is a national, indeed an international industry”.
She said the equine industry was worth $37 million a year in the Wingecarribee Shire and “we (council) need to support it”.
She said the annual Bong Bong Picnic Races was a traditional event that went “straight to the heart of our tourism potential”.
She also pointed out that the race club had been named winner of the 2025 Outstanding Business Award in the not-for-profit category at this year’s Southern Highland Business Awards.
Cr Rachel Russell said council needed to be “very careful” with its use of public money.
“We as councillors are custodians of public money to make sure that it is serving the community good,” she said.
“Where there can be any question of that I think we need to be very careful.”
She said it was a “fundamental issue” of spending money to do good and “do no harm”.
She said there were a lot of hardworking community organisations “out there on the ground” in the Wingecarribee dealing with the impacts of gambling.
Cr Nicole Smith said she felt comfortable that the framework and associated policy were enough to guide “wise decisions” that would avoid unintended consequences.
Cr Moylan’s amendment was carried.
Read More: Southern Highlands