Latest news with #Waterhouse
Herald Sun
26-05-2025
- Business
- Herald Sun
Rosehill sale vote: Australian Turf Club meeting reveals result
Don't miss out on the headlines from Horse Racing. Followed categories will be added to My News. To sell or not to sell, that is the question. The Australian Turf Club's proposal to sell Rosehill Gardens racecourse for a reported $5 billion to make way for 25,000 new homes will be determined by the club's 11,000-plus members on Tuesday. This is a defining moment for Sydney and NSW racing. It is up to the members to decide the fate of Rosehill, the home of the Golden Slipper. Rosehill is a historic venue and all the greats of Australian racing like Phar Lap, Tulloch, Bernborough, Todman, Vain, Luskin Star, Manikato, Kingston Town, Octagonal, Lonhro, Makybe Diva and Winx won major races there. But only 12,111 attended the Golden Slipper earlier this year and less than 100,000 people came to Rosehill meetings during the 2023-24 season. This is a disturbing decline in race day crowds given 191,671 came through the turnstiles in 2012-13. • PUNT LIKE A PRO: Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet's team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. SUBSCRIBE NOW! So, if this issue is not burdensome enough already for members, they also have to work out what is fact or fiction from what has been a very robust and often heated debate from proponents of the Yes and No votes. There have been so many claims and counterclaims from both sides of the argument that it has become increasingly difficult to work out what is right or wrong. ATC chairman Peter McGauran has said if members vote to sell Rosehill it will secure the future of Sydney racing. 'We believe it is the biggest and most important decision in the history of the club,'' McGauran said. 'It will make us the most financially secure race club in the world.'' Marhoona (green and white silks) wins the 2025 Golden Slipper at Rosehill. Picture: Bradley Photos • ATC tees off on Penrith golf course plan for new track in Sydney's west But Hall of Fame trainer Gai Waterhouse has led the charge against the sale, urging members to vote 'No'. 'Members still have no definitive proposal of any sort to justify a sale,'' Waterhouse wrote on social media earlier this month. 'Warwick Farm is unsuitable, there is no supporting evidence to say a track can be built, and if 'yes' wins then voting members lose all control of Rosehill. We may as well throw our betting tickets away.'' The Daily Telegraph, however, recently revealed Waterhouse has not attended a Rosehill meeting in five years and is more often seen at Melbourne race tracks. ATC expects at least half of the club's membership base of nearly 11,500 to vote on the issue. The 'no' vote is favourite with the Save Rosehill group having the support of many leading industry participants. But if members vote in favour of selling Rosehill, the land will be used to build 25,000 new homes while ATC has unveiled plans to redevelop Warwick Farm and build a new training facility near Penrith which has the potential to also to be a Group 1 racetrack. The $5 billion sale price is a one-off and is dependent on a decision being made in time for the NSW Government to build a new Metro station to service the homes that would be built on the racecourse land. In an endeavour to provide some clarity for those members still trying to decide how they will vote on Tuesday, this is a snapshot of the most pressing issues concerning the Rosehill sale proposal. 1: What does selling Rosehill mean for Sydney racing? If Rosehill is sold, ATC has stipulated racing will continue at the track until at least 2031. During this period, $800 million will be spent on transforming Warwick Farm, $520 million on upgrading stabling facilities and other infrastructure at Royal Randwick, and another $520 million allocated to building the training centre at Penrith. In total, $1.9 million will be spent on various infrastructure projects with the remaining $3 billion invested into a Future Fund. 2: Is the $5 billion guaranteed if Rosehill is sold? The resolution to sell Rosehill ensures that the deal will only proceed if the State Government agrees to pay ATC a net of $5 billion. Payment will be secured through a legally binding contract with the NSW Government, which will provide a mechanism to safeguard payment. 3: Who will have control of the funds? The ATC owns Rosehill Gardens and has stipulated it will retain complete legal and financial control over every dollar if the sale goes ahead. Racing NSW has provided written confirmation to the ATC that it will not seek to recover any of the net $5 billion in sale proceeds. 4: Is Warwick Farm a suitable and viable alternative to Rosehill? Under the ATC masterplan, Warwick Farm will undergo an $800 million transformation, including flood proofing, and a completely new racetrack and grandstand. At 87 hectares, it is vastly larger than Rosehill Gardens (60 hectares). 5: Is there a transition plan for trainers if Rosehill is sold? This is one of the most difficult aspects of the sale proposal as any potential sale of Rosehill and rebuild of Warwick Farm will directly impact trainers and their stable staff. ATC has vowed to work individually with all trainers on transition plans with the consultation period to last at least 12 months. No trainers at either Warwick Farm or Rosehill Gardens will be relocated for at least two years and the new Racing Advisory Board is there to provide advice and input on transition plans. 6: ATC's loyalty program for members The ATC is planning to introduce a loyalty program for members funded by proceeds from the proposed sale. Critics have described as a 'gimmick or bribe' while the club is hoping to use the program to increase club membership and what have been poor race-day attendances. The Loyalty program will provide free annual membership fees for five years, free annual membership for life for those members who already have been at the club for 20 or more years, and $1000 per annum food and beverage credits for five years. Originally published as Defining moment for racing in Sydney and NSW as Rosehill sale vote revealed by Australian Turf Club
The Age
12-05-2025
- Politics
- The Age
Residents launch legal action over Oxford Street cycleway
Two Paddington residents are ramping up their fight to divert a contentious cycleway along Oxford Street, launching legal action against the state government and the City of Sydney council alleging the project breaches human rights laws by discriminating against elderly people and those with a disability. Former city councillor Kathryn Greiner and Michael Waterhouse were among six residents who complained to the Australian Human Rights Commission about safety risks posed by the so-called 'island' bus stops on the route from Hyde Park in the city to Centennial Park in the eastern suburbs. Community sentiment has been deeply divided over the NSW government's commitment to fund the Coalition-era project. Cyclists and City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore are supportive, but local opponents have argued it would be dangerous, cut off several right-hand turns from Oxford Street, and be detrimental for small businesses. The commission terminated the group's complaint after finding there was no reasonable prospect of the matter being settled by conciliation, allowing the group 40 days to file in the Federal Court. The pair's case centres on the 'island' bus stops created by the separated cycleway, which force passengers to cross the bike lanes to get from the footpath to the bus stop. The stops are already found along some Sydney cycleways, and are also similar to some platform-style light rail stops. Waterhouse argued crossing a two-way cycle lane to reach a platform bus stop risked near-misses or collisions between cyclists and people who were less mobile, or had a hearing or vision impairment. 'I have a deafness problem, I don't hear a cyclist's bell,' Waterhouse said. 'If you're blind, you're on a hiding to nothing because you simply have no idea what's going on. Oxford Street has long, straight stretches, so cyclists can get to 40 or 50km/h.' The City of Sydney has built the western section of the cycleway, from Hyde Park to Taylor Square, while Transport for NSW is planning the eastern section from the square to Centennial Park.
Sydney Morning Herald
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
Residents launch legal action over Oxford Street cycleway
Two Paddington residents are ramping up their fight to divert a contentious cycleway along Oxford Street, launching legal action against the state government and the City of Sydney council alleging the project breaches human rights laws by discriminating against elderly people and those with a disability. Former city councillor Kathryn Greiner and Michael Waterhouse were among six residents who complained to the Australian Human Rights Commission about safety risks posed by the so-called 'island' bus stops on the route from Hyde Park in the city to Centennial Park in the eastern suburbs. Community sentiment has been deeply divided over the NSW government's commitment to fund the Coalition-era project. Cyclists and City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore are supportive, but local opponents have argued it would be dangerous, cut off several right-hand turns from Oxford Street, and be detrimental for small businesses. The commission terminated the group's complaint after finding there was no reasonable prospect of the matter being settled by conciliation, allowing the group 40 days to file in the Federal Court. The pair's case centres on the 'island' bus stops created by the separated cycleway, which force passengers to cross the bike lanes to get from the footpath to the bus stop. The stops are already found along some Sydney cycleways, and are also similar to some platform-style light rail stops. Waterhouse argued crossing a two-way cycle lane to reach a platform bus stop risked near-misses or collisions between cyclists and people who were less mobile, or had a hearing or vision impairment. 'I have a deafness problem, I don't hear a cyclist's bell,' Waterhouse said. 'If you're blind, you're on a hiding to nothing because you simply have no idea what's going on. Oxford Street has long, straight stretches, so cyclists can get to 40 or 50km/h.' The City of Sydney has built the western section of the cycleway, from Hyde Park to Taylor Square, while Transport for NSW is planning the eastern section from the square to Centennial Park.
The Age
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
Suki Waterhouse has it all. So why does she feel like a spider?
Suki Waterhouse is fashionably late. 'Five or ten', one of her team emails as I watch the black screen. Sadly, the interview will be audio only. Which I totally get, having spent many hours on an exhausting social media video trail documenting the daily affairs of the English Model, Actress, Whatever, to borrow one of her canny recent song titles. Yes, she's a singer-songwriter too; a gifted and prolific one. Second album Memoir of a Sparklemuffin yielded 18 songs in September and she's since dropped two more. Dream Woman and On This Love are from the same shimmering well of 'sad girl bops', as she wryly describes her happy place. Billie Eilish and Taylor Swift are fans. It's OK, I tell her when she comes apologetically online. She must be the busiest woman in showbiz what with all those songs, fashion shoots, screen roles – around 25 so far, notably the ambitious bombshell keyboard player in Daisy Jones & the Six – and all that TikTok, YouTube and Insta content. 'You say busy, but I've been taking it easy the last week and having a little time just enjoying New York City in April,' she confesses – though even strolling with her husband Robert Pattinson, the Twilight and Batman actor and father to her one-year-old daughter, looks a bit like work from here. 'Suki Waterhouse Makes the Case for a New Summer Sneaker,' was Vogue 's takeaway from the inevitable ambush of pap snaps. 'I just wish I'd chosen something else to wear,' she says with commendable grace. My joke about occupational hazards falls flat. So we talk about her music. 'I think I had this terror about ever forgetting my life or what had happened in it,' she says, jumping in the deep end. Writing songs 'was the only place that I had to hold a mirror up to myself, or to make something outside of myself. I know that I'll always be able to go back to these songs and it will remind me of who I was at a certain point. 'That's kind of the root of where they all come from. It was a way to feel like everything wasn't just make-believe.' The veiled reference to 15-plus years in hair, make-up and fittings is hard to miss. The daughter of medical professionals, Waterhouse was 'discovered' in her mid-teens in a London pub, one story goes, and slogged her way from Marks & Spencer lingerie to Burberry, Hilfiger, Wang and Balenciaga to covers of Vogue, Elle and Marie Claire and ethereal heights as a fashion influencer. 'Music,' by contrast, 'is something that you create from nothing,' she says. 'It's kind of amazing. There's no one else but yourself that's in control of what you release, how it looks … in my situation, anyway, every decision is mine. I get to be the decider of what I put out. 'To have that kind of autonomy, and to have that place ... it's an incredible feeling. [After] working in different things where that's not really always the case, or you're very much part of something else, this is something that I have full ownership of.' Waterhouse dabbled in musical theatre and songwriting as a teenager before ditching school to sign with New York modelling agency Next Management. Also, 'this sounds so embarrassing, but I think I went to something called Pop Star School every Wednesday', she says with an audible squirm. 'We would learn how to hold microphones, get put in different bands and do a performance at the end of the year. I was dressed like Avril Lavigne: very low combat trousers and tank tops, with really bad acne, in an all-girl band. And it was so much fun. 'If I think back to being a child, I definitely did want to be on stage, and did want to live this life of a musician. But I just never expected that that would happen.' A parallel career in acting would boost her confidence. Between 2012 and 2022, her resume of supporting roles ranged from middling romcom Love, Rosie to the schlock horror of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies to the dystopian sci-fi bombast of Insurgent, Assassination Nation and James Franco's ill-fated Future World. Daisy Jones & the Six was the critical and commercial success that ironically sealed her resolve as a musician. Set in the Los Angeles rock scene of the 1970s, the gritty/glamorous 2023 series cast Waterhouse as Karen Sirko, the titular band's most driven wannabe. 'This was her destiny, and she was going to be on stage,' Waterhouse says. 'Immersing myself in her turned this light on in my head.' In one of those behind-the-scenes trailers on YouTube, she reveals something of herself in describing Sirko's motivation. 'I imagine she has a mother who she doesn't want to mimic ... and she's trying to get far away from that.' 'I think I was quite a difficult teenager and I think my parents had really low expectations of me,' she reflects now. 'They'd kind of given up … because I was, to be honest, a bit of a nightmare. I think we started from a pretty low point. But they've been gradually prouder and they've been pleasantly surprised as the years have gone on.' Committing to music at last, Waterhouse's status and resources naturally helped to open doors. Her debut album I Can't Let Go was produced by Brad Cook, known for his work with Bon Iver and The War On Drugs, and released by prestige indie label Sub Pop. Memoir of a Sparklemuffin – the title refers to the recently named Australian spider – expanded her pool of collaborators in modern pop industrial style, and her profile followed suit. 'My delusions followed me, haunted me, honestly,' she sings in Model, Actress, Whatever. 'All of my dreams came true.' Another quote, this time from Karen Sirko on choosing to terminate her pregnancy to lead guitarist Graham Dunne in Daisy Jones: 'I'm not quitting this band to raise a baby!' Different times, of course, and different circumstances but clearly Suki Waterhouse has chosen to have it all. Has anything had to give yet? 'Look, having a kid has completely changed my world,' she says. 'Right now, I take her everywhere with me. I'm going on tour again this year, and she comes on the bus. She came on the bus for the last tour and she was like a little potato then ... But now she's, like, running around, and I'm interested to see how that's going to be, because it's completely different. But it will be so fun! 'Life changes. I'm sure in three, four years when she's going to school, there'll be another alteration. How it's immediately changed is I try and stay in one place more than I did before, but I'm really lucky that I have an amazing crew, and I have great family, and I have a great village around me who are prepared to support me while I work.' Going back to that Vogue headline about summer sneaker politics, what's astounding is how much of life has been co-opted into the work portfolio for the modern 'multi-hyphenate creative', to quote Waterhouse's latest media bio. After the baby and the day jobs have all been put to bed, is all that content just part of the modern showbiz skill set, or a regrettable add-on? 'I'm incredibly focused on making the best albums that I possibly can, and making the best music that I possibly can,' she demurs at first. 'I mean, forget about content. You can't go anywhere without an amazing album, without amazing music.' That said, her countless TikTok and Insta check-ins and days-in-the-life for Elle and Vogue are 'kind of a different sort of artform,' she says. 'Whenever I feel frustrated by it, I do remind myself [to] see it like a blessing, that I have this whole other platform ... Loading 'You know, I'm quite shy, and I don't really like to address anything too personal … but if I ever do need to, I have this direct voice … I've actually found it quite freeing, in a way. When I started modelling at 14 or 15, there was no way of being able to make fun of yourself, or anything like that. You would never have that access point to be able to talk to people directly. 'People are so much more open and confident with talking about issues; issues inside of the industries and ... it's kind of shocking to me. I think I'll always be slightly frozen in that time where I started working, where you just kind of kept quiet. But I've slowly acclimated over the years to kind of enjoying it. It can be pretty fun.' It looks it, especially when she parodies the glamour of her day job in videos like her latest, On This Love, the second to be shot and edited by her sisters (also models) Imogen and Madeleine. In her OMG video last year she was almost unrecognisable under grotesque wig and make-up: a token tilt, at least, at the conventional beauty ideals that still rule the top of the pop ladder. 'I'm thinking about that stuff all the time,' she says, 'and it's constantly around me as well. Being female in the industry, there's things that you try and escape; those ideals that are put onto you, that are put onto all of us ...' the thought peters out as the interview clock counts down. The sparklemuffin, as any arachnologist knows, must dance or die. 'I suddenly felt very akin to this very fuzzy, razzle-dazzle dancing spider that has quite a self-destructive side,' Waterhouse told NPR last year. 'Some of them can be semi-fatal or adorable. You don't quite know what you're getting.' Yes, she reveals, a date with the colourful beast has been loosely arranged when she arrives in Australia at last next month. That's if her Melbourne shows aren't already crawling with them. 'I'll be very disappointed,' she says, 'if most Australians don't have a pet sparklemuffin.'
Sydney Morning Herald
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
Suki Waterhouse has it all. So why does she feel like a spider?
Suki Waterhouse is fashionably late. 'Five or ten', one of her team emails as I watch the black screen. Sadly, the interview will be audio only. Which I totally get, having spent many hours on an exhausting social media video trail documenting the daily affairs of the English Model, Actress, Whatever, to borrow one of her canny recent song titles. Yes, she's a singer-songwriter too; a gifted and prolific one. Second album Memoir of a Sparklemuffin yielded 18 songs in September and she's since dropped two more. Dream Woman and On This Love are from the same shimmering well of 'sad girl bops', as she wryly describes her happy place. Billie Eilish and Taylor Swift are fans. It's OK, I tell her when she comes apologetically online. She must be the busiest woman in showbiz what with all those songs, fashion shoots, screen roles – around 25 so far, notably the ambitious bombshell keyboard player in Daisy Jones & the Six – and all that TikTok, YouTube and Insta content. 'You say busy, but I've been taking it easy the last week and having a little time just enjoying New York City in April,' she confesses – though even strolling with her husband Robert Pattinson, the Twilight and Batman actor and father to her one-year-old daughter, looks a bit like work from here. 'Suki Waterhouse Makes the Case for a New Summer Sneaker,' was Vogue 's takeaway from the inevitable ambush of pap snaps. 'I just wish I'd chosen something else to wear,' she says with commendable grace. My joke about occupational hazards falls flat. So we talk about her music. 'I think I had this terror about ever forgetting my life or what had happened in it,' she says, jumping in the deep end. Writing songs 'was the only place that I had to hold a mirror up to myself, or to make something outside of myself. I know that I'll always be able to go back to these songs and it will remind me of who I was at a certain point. 'That's kind of the root of where they all come from. It was a way to feel like everything wasn't just make-believe.' The veiled reference to 15-plus years in hair, make-up and fittings is hard to miss. The daughter of medical professionals, Waterhouse was 'discovered' in her mid-teens in a London pub, one story goes, and slogged her way from Marks & Spencer lingerie to Burberry, Hilfiger, Wang and Balenciaga to covers of Vogue, Elle and Marie Claire and ethereal heights as a fashion influencer. 'Music,' by contrast, 'is something that you create from nothing,' she says. 'It's kind of amazing. There's no one else but yourself that's in control of what you release, how it looks … in my situation, anyway, every decision is mine. I get to be the decider of what I put out. 'To have that kind of autonomy, and to have that place ... it's an incredible feeling. [After] working in different things where that's not really always the case, or you're very much part of something else, this is something that I have full ownership of.' Waterhouse dabbled in musical theatre and songwriting as a teenager before ditching school to sign with New York modelling agency Next Management. Also, 'this sounds so embarrassing, but I think I went to something called Pop Star School every Wednesday', she says with an audible squirm. 'We would learn how to hold microphones, get put in different bands and do a performance at the end of the year. I was dressed like Avril Lavigne: very low combat trousers and tank tops, with really bad acne, in an all-girl band. And it was so much fun. 'If I think back to being a child, I definitely did want to be on stage, and did want to live this life of a musician. But I just never expected that that would happen.' A parallel career in acting would boost her confidence. Between 2012 and 2022, her resume of supporting roles ranged from middling romcom Love, Rosie to the schlock horror of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies to the dystopian sci-fi bombast of Insurgent, Assassination Nation and James Franco's ill-fated Future World. Daisy Jones & the Six was the critical and commercial success that ironically sealed her resolve as a musician. Set in the Los Angeles rock scene of the 1970s, the gritty/glamorous 2023 series cast Waterhouse as Karen Sirko, the titular band's most driven wannabe. 'This was her destiny, and she was going to be on stage,' Waterhouse says. 'Immersing myself in her turned this light on in my head.' In one of those behind-the-scenes trailers on YouTube, she reveals something of herself in describing Sirko's motivation. 'I imagine she has a mother who she doesn't want to mimic ... and she's trying to get far away from that.' 'I think I was quite a difficult teenager and I think my parents had really low expectations of me,' she reflects now. 'They'd kind of given up … because I was, to be honest, a bit of a nightmare. I think we started from a pretty low point. But they've been gradually prouder and they've been pleasantly surprised as the years have gone on.' Committing to music at last, Waterhouse's status and resources naturally helped to open doors. Her debut album I Can't Let Go was produced by Brad Cook, known for his work with Bon Iver and The War On Drugs, and released by prestige indie label Sub Pop. Memoir of a Sparklemuffin – the title refers to the recently named Australian spider – expanded her pool of collaborators in modern pop industrial style, and her profile followed suit. 'My delusions followed me, haunted me, honestly,' she sings in Model, Actress, Whatever. 'All of my dreams came true.' Another quote, this time from Karen Sirko on choosing to terminate her pregnancy to lead guitarist Graham Dunne in Daisy Jones: 'I'm not quitting this band to raise a baby!' Different times, of course, and different circumstances but clearly Suki Waterhouse has chosen to have it all. Has anything had to give yet? 'Look, having a kid has completely changed my world,' she says. 'Right now, I take her everywhere with me. I'm going on tour again this year, and she comes on the bus. She came on the bus for the last tour and she was like a little potato then ... But now she's, like, running around, and I'm interested to see how that's going to be, because it's completely different. But it will be so fun! 'Life changes. I'm sure in three, four years when she's going to school, there'll be another alteration. How it's immediately changed is I try and stay in one place more than I did before, but I'm really lucky that I have an amazing crew, and I have great family, and I have a great village around me who are prepared to support me while I work.' Going back to that Vogue headline about summer sneaker politics, what's astounding is how much of life has been co-opted into the work portfolio for the modern 'multi-hyphenate creative', to quote Waterhouse's latest media bio. After the baby and the day jobs have all been put to bed, is all that content just part of the modern showbiz skill set, or a regrettable add-on? 'I'm incredibly focused on making the best albums that I possibly can, and making the best music that I possibly can,' she demurs at first. 'I mean, forget about content. You can't go anywhere without an amazing album, without amazing music.' That said, her countless TikTok and Insta check-ins and days-in-the-life for Elle and Vogue are 'kind of a different sort of artform,' she says. 'Whenever I feel frustrated by it, I do remind myself [to] see it like a blessing, that I have this whole other platform ... Loading 'You know, I'm quite shy, and I don't really like to address anything too personal … but if I ever do need to, I have this direct voice … I've actually found it quite freeing, in a way. When I started modelling at 14 or 15, there was no way of being able to make fun of yourself, or anything like that. You would never have that access point to be able to talk to people directly. 'People are so much more open and confident with talking about issues; issues inside of the industries and ... it's kind of shocking to me. I think I'll always be slightly frozen in that time where I started working, where you just kind of kept quiet. But I've slowly acclimated over the years to kind of enjoying it. It can be pretty fun.' It looks it, especially when she parodies the glamour of her day job in videos like her latest, On This Love, the second to be shot and edited by her sisters (also models) Imogen and Madeleine. In her OMG video last year she was almost unrecognisable under grotesque wig and make-up: a token tilt, at least, at the conventional beauty ideals that still rule the top of the pop ladder. 'I'm thinking about that stuff all the time,' she says, 'and it's constantly around me as well. Being female in the industry, there's things that you try and escape; those ideals that are put onto you, that are put onto all of us ...' the thought peters out as the interview clock counts down. The sparklemuffin, as any arachnologist knows, must dance or die. 'I suddenly felt very akin to this very fuzzy, razzle-dazzle dancing spider that has quite a self-destructive side,' Waterhouse told NPR last year. 'Some of them can be semi-fatal or adorable. You don't quite know what you're getting.' Yes, she reveals, a date with the colourful beast has been loosely arranged when she arrives in Australia at last next month. That's if her Melbourne shows aren't already crawling with them. 'I'll be very disappointed,' she says, 'if most Australians don't have a pet sparklemuffin.'
