THE newly-elected Labor Government has ordered an independent review of Queensland’s greyhound industry to investigate how the practice of ‘live baiting’ went undetected.
The ABC reports that barrister Alan MacSporran will head the review, which is expected to take three months and cost $3 million, to be funded by the racing industry.
It comes as the Board of Racing Queensland meets this afternoon (Monday) to assess ‘show cause’ submissions from seven trainers allegedly involved in the practice.
They were part of the 13 Queensland trainers suspended following the ABC's 4 Corners program which revealed the use of live baiting to train greyhounds in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.
Racing Minister Bill Byrne said the review would look into how widespread the practice was and whether changes to compliance and monitoring were needed.
"While the regulations I believe are entirely sufficient, it's a function of logic that the regulatory framework in its oversight has been deficient, so it's not rocket science to suggest that there's a regulatory oversight problem here," Mr Byrne said.
"The people of Queensland want to know what went wrong, why it went wrong and what needs to be done to ensure this type of behavior cannot occur undetected in the future."
Mr Byrne said the review would be supported by the Department of National Parks, Sport and Racing.
"A dedicated telephone number - 1300 791 224 - has been established to allow the public to provide any information that might be of assistance," he said.
Queensland Greyhound Racing Queensland Board chairman Michael Byrne, QC, said the organization welcomed the review "100 per cent".
"We will assist and cooperate with it," he said.
"It's a great industry and I want it to move forward. I want it to be open and accountable."
The review was separate from the investigation being conducted by Racing Queensland in conjunction with Queensland racing integrity commissioner Jim O'Sullivan and the Queensland Police Service.
Meanwhile, RQ has welcomed the independent review into animal welfare issues in the Queensland greyhound industry.
RQ CEO Darren Condon said the organization is supportive of any action that would improve animal welfare and stamp out any future acts of animal cruelty from occurring.
“Racing Queensland has fully supported the Queensland Police Service and RSPCA in their current investigations and we will continue to show this same level of co-operation and work with the review announced today,” Mr Condon said.
“We take our responsibility to police racing in Queensland very seriously and we will welcome any opportunity which will lead to improvements in the greyhound industry.
“Racing Queensland will continue to build on our current integrity measures and ensure that in the longer term the industry operates in line with contemporary community expectations.”
Racing Queensland has already moved to implement a range of measures aimed at improving the welfare of greyhounds and ridding the industry of animal cruelty practices.
The new measures include:
· Banning the use of any organic matter on a lure ensuring no animals are harmed for the purpose of training a greyhound
· Teams of stewards on the ground inspecting kennels for evidence of animal cruelty across the state and recording the data of dogs domiciled at each property
· Imposing a welfare and integrity levy on greyhound prizemoney, breeding schemes and subsidy schemes, which will raise $1.6 million annually.
