Integrity ire fuelled by delays

AS leading trainers voice their concerns about integrity in Queensland racing, a delay in mooted changes to the Racing Integrity Act is doing little to quell the anger.

Trainers Robert Heathcote, Kelly Schweida, Bryan and Daniel Guy and Desleigh Forster voiced several concerns to racenet.com.au on Sunday, with a common theme being they have little confidence in the integrity of racing at the moment, or the way it is administered by the Queensland Racing Integrity Commission.

Heathcote said he was “certain it is not clean here”.

Integrity Commissioner Ross Barnett responded: “I don’t accept the premise that much of the industry lacks confidence in the (QRIC).”

Last year, the Government called for submissions on ways to improve integrity.

One of the common themes was the appeal system, which could take well over 12 months.

Racing Minister Stirling Hinchliffe said the Palaszczuk Government was committed to integrity and that was why it had called for submissions last year, but the subsequent Martin Inquiry into animal welfare retirement had led to another series of recommendations requiring legislative change.

He said “good progress” was being made on combining the recommendations into one package, but the COVID-19 pandemic had caused delays.

But Peter Boyce, Sunshine Coast Turf Club chairman and a prominent lawyer, has outlined a system that could have matters finalised in 21 days.