Question of integrity
AS leading trainers voice their concerns about integrity and the way it is administered 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 a number of concerns to racenet.com.au on Sunday, with a common theme being they have little confidence in the integrity of racing at the moment nor the way it is administered by the Queensland Racing Integrity Commission.
Heathcote told racenet.com.au he was “certain it is not clean here” and claimed “it is possibly the worst it has been since I came into racing”.
Integrity Commissioner Ross Barnett responded by saying: “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 can take well over 12 months for cases to be determined.
Racing Minister Stirling Hinchliffe said the Palaszczuk Government was committed to integrity and that was why it called for submissions on integrity last year, but the subsequent Martin Inquiry into animal welfare retirement had led to another series of recommendations, which required legislative change.
“We are making good progress to combining these recommendations into one package, however the COVID-19 pandemic has led to QRIC being solely and rightly focused on keeping racing and integrity functioning in this changed environment,” Hinchliffe said.
“As life begins to return to the new normal, we look forward to progressing these important pieces of work to strengthen integrity and welfare in Queensland.”
Sunshine Coast Turf Club chairman and prominent lawyer Peter Boyce made a detailed submission to the Government outlining a system that could have matters finalised in 21 days.
“It’s so broken that even QRIC agree we need major amendments, so all parties are singing off the same sheet,” Boyce said.