31 August 2015

Jeremy Rockliff, Minister for Racing

Vale Brian Speers

Tasmania has farewelled a champion of the local racing industry, and a great contributor to business and community life in Hobart.

Brian Speers, the chair of Tasracing, passed away on Wednesday 26th August 2015. His life was celebrated at a service in Hobart today.

Brian was involved in the racing industry for more than 40 years as a participant and an administrator. He was a founding member of the Tasracing board, and took up the Chair in November 2009.

In his six years as Chair, he oversaw a period of rapid change in the racing industry, navigating the local industry through many changes including:

• Introduction of night thoroughbred racing;
• International expansion of Tasmanian racing to France, Singapore, South Africa and New Zealand;
• Redevelopment of the Spreyton racecourse and the introduction of Australia’s first Tapeta synthetic race track; and
• Managing the company through a period of dramatic change in national wagering markets, during which time Tasmanian wagering increased by over $130 million or 32 per cent in the last four years.

Brian was well known and well liked. I am grateful for the sound advice and strong support he provided to me as Minister over the last 18 months, and the mutual trust we built as we moved towards a sustainable business model for Tasracing.

Our thoughts are with Brian’s wife Di and the rest of his loving family.

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