The future of the controversial world rally in Tweed and Kyogle shires is in doubt following the shock axing of Rally Australia’s general manager and his Murwillumbah-based team.
The rally’s governing body CAMS (Confederation of Australian Motorsport) has decided not to renew the contracts of key players in the running of the event – general manager Gary Upson, operations manager Bob Newman and event support co-ordinator, Sam Pearce – who were all based in Murwillumbah in a Tweed Shire Council office before and during the event in September.
This follows the resignation days earlier of Rally Australia organising committee chairman Garry Connelly, who had overall responsibility for the event.

The report by rally journalists forced CAMS last week to deny the trio were sacked, claiming instead that their contracts, which were originally only for a year, would not be renewed under a structural reorganisation.
CAMS also indicated there would be a shakeup of the rally board, which includes council’s general manager Mike Rayner. Mr Rayner’s position as a director on the board came under fire from councillors and rally protesters as a conflict of interest.
CAMS also appeared to recognise there had been a lack of community consultation for the event, after suffering a huge backlash from sections of the community which resulted in the cancellation of a stage at Byrrill Creek and much negative publicity around Australia and the world. The peak motor sport body said it planned to establish regional consultative and advisory committees in addition to the existing environmental consultative and advisory committee ‘as a mechanism for community engagement’.
A report in RallySport Magazine said the decision to hold the rally in Tweed and Kyogle Shires ‘was always a contentious one, with a strong band of protesters against the event’.

‘With three of the event’s main organising team now out of the picture, a new general manager will have his/her work cut out starting from scratch. Upson, Newman and Pearce will take a huge amount of knowledge with them, and a new team will have to re-build relationships with governments, local councils, sponsors and the like,’ the report this month said.
RallySport Magazine believed that ‘no sponsor is tied in for future events, that funding from the NSW Government has not been guaranteed, nor has a guarantee been given from the ISC that future World Rally Championship events will be held in Australia.
‘After such a successful event in 2009, it seems a shame that Rally Australia will now need to build from the ground up again, providing all the planets align and it gets the green light to run in the future,’ the report said.
CAMS admitted that it did not know whether it had an event secured for 2011 but in order to ‘honour its commitment’ to maintaining an office and presence in the Northern Rivers, rally official Janah McLean had been offered a further 12 month employment contract and would continue to work from Murwillumbah.

Sacked chief Gary Upson told a Murwillumbah District Business Chamber breakfast meeting after the rally that the event had been one of the most successful he’d been involved with after running the New Zealand Rally for nine years.
The New Zealander said he and his family had decided to buy a home and settle in the Tweed as they enjoyed the lifestyle so much.
Some Murwillumbah businesses however contradicted his assessment that the event  had been a big boost to the local economy saying they saw little ‘action’, with one saying they lost money.

Council manager Mike Rayner told The Echo that the Motor Bill Act required a review to be taken at the end of the declared rally period on December 31. ‘I understand that that is what is going to happen,’ he said.
A spokesman for Industry and Investment NSW said Events NSW had not finalised the rally’s economic impact study while the overall review required under the special legislation would not be tabled till next year.