RACING editor Bart Sinclair talks to incoming Racing Queensland Limited chairman Kevin Dixon after his first week in the position.

What are your first thoughts on RQL?

It would be nice if we could simply say times are tough and things are tight. A lot of the problem is structural and it will be harder to correct in the long term. An example is the business model RQL built. It is far more expensive than the industry can afford. In the re-structure, all business will be carried out with an eye to greater productivity.

Can you provide an example of what you are trying to achieve in the way business is conducted at the Deagon headquarters?

The centralised approach to managing race clubs and their facilities produces an end product which is of a higher quality. However, it is one the racing industry in this state can't afford. We get around the financial problem by moving the delivery of racing services back locally and accept that involves compromises in the way that is done. Under the previous RQL model, Rockhampton is a classic example. To maintain and run the facilities at Callaghan Park has been costing about $1 million a year, or a lot more than when the Rockhampton Jockey Club did it themselves.

Where do you start to rein in costs?

The first thing we did was cut board fees by 50 per cent. That's dropped in day one from $525,000 to $262,500. And expenses will be drastically reduced. The expenses for the previous board were running at over $20,000 a month.

The cost of running RQL is $5 million to $6 million more than we can afford. The previous board was under-spending on prizemoney. The stakes money from washed-out meetings was going to admin costs. Same with money not paid out under the QTIS scheme.

What's at the top of your priority list?

The first job is to make sure we implement LNP policy. Directions were set in the election campaign and we will adhere to those pledges. The other big issue is finding an answer to the most worrying financial problem, and that is the Sunshine Coast training and stabling matter. There are around 240 stables and the occupancy rate is less than 25 per cent. It's carried in the books at an asset value far in excess of the real value.

Is the LNP Government locked into $20 million annually for five years towards an industry infrastructure plan?

Yes. Each of the projects identified in the RQL Infrastructure Plan will be studied, and some may need to be adjusted to meet priorities the new board will be setting.

What is the future of Deagon and Albion Park?

It is LNP policy Deagon remain as it is. End of story. At Albion Park, again it is LNP policy it be retained as a harness facility. We are working with the members of the harness community who already had drawn up plans for development of the track which they believe are suitable and affordable.

What lies ahead for the greyhound code?

The greyhound code has two or three exciting options. We firstly will hear from them which one they want to pursue.

Everyone is anxious to get a lift in prizemoney. What are the prospects?

Currently the prizemoney pool subsidises RQL administration by $3 million to $4 million a year. Our first priority will be to ensure scheduled and programmed prizemoney actually gets directed to prizemoney. While individual prizemoney, say $45,000 for a Saturday race, may not increase, any unpaid stakes will be channelled back into the prizemoney pool.

In addition, the LNP has made $1 million available for country racing and a further $2.5 million subsidisation of the QTIS scheme. That $2.5 million now releases the amount previously paid by RQL to the QTIS pool.

What's the situation in Queensland with corporate bookies and on-course bookies in regards to paying tax to the industry?

The current agreement based on a share of revenue expires on June 30 and we already have put together a negotiating team to come up with a different structured deal to maximise return to the Queensland racing industry and to remove the inequity that exists for local on-course bookies. It's unfair.

The TAB deal for the codes in Queensland is close to expiry. What's the landscape looking like there?

The TAB agreement expires in 2014. This agreement across all three codes is far more complex than the issues with corporate bookies. It will involve a very delicate set of discussions between the licence holder the Tattersall's Group, RQL and the State Government.

There are a lot of rumours around that some race clubs which were anticipating a windfall result under the previous Infrastructure Plan are on a "hit list". True?

Anyone who claims to know where infrastructure money is headed is talking rubbish. We haven't decided yet. Decisions won't be made on who is friends with whom but rather on what's right for the industry.

Your thoughts on country racing?

Country racing is vitally important to us. Our priority is to ensure that every race club scheduled to run one or two meetings a year actually gets to stage them.

The country racing committee met this week and came up with a set of initiatives that they believe will put life back into the bush. Those ideas will be put forward to the RQL board and the State Government.