Victorian Premier Dan Andrews has backtracked on his decision to allow hundreds of people to attend the Manikato Stakes and the Cox Plate.
Originally, 500 owners and connections were approved to attend the two race meetings on Friday, October 23rd and Saturday, October 24th respectively.
However, following intense public backlash, Andrews has rescinded the approval.
In a statement, Andrews conceded to having used the “wrong judgment,” as reported by ABC News.
“I apologise for any concern it caused and again I’m not here to defend the decision… we have basically changed that, it is not happening on Saturday,” he said.
Andrews also directly admitted that it was the community’s response that led to his backflip, rather than any issues with the approval process.
“It went through the normal process but it was the wrong decision, I will cop that… the issue is it didn’t meet the expectations of the community,” he said.
The reversal of decision was first announced by Racing Minister Martin Pakula, who told ABC News that it was he who “pursued” the official allowance of crowds.
“As Racing Minister, I was the one that pursued that on behalf of the industry… I don’t shy away from the fact that I was the one pushing it and proposing it,” he said.
“I should’ve stepped back and had a broader view about how it would be perceived by the rest of the community — and that’s my mistake.”
Meanwhile, a decision is still yet to be made as to whether owners and connections will be allowed to attend the Melbourne Cup Carnival, which begins on October 31.
Andrews said he hopes that a downward trend in coronavirus case numbers will allow for “greater freedom” for eventgoers.
“We do genuinely hope on Sunday to be able to make some announcements about the future if these numbers stay on-trend,” he said.
“There will perhaps be a greater freedom across many different events and hopefully that meets with significant support.”
