MACSPORRAN COMMISSION OF INQUIRY REPORT LEAVES RACING QUEENSLAND IN A STATE OF FLUX

By Graham Potter | Tuesday, June 2, 2015

It’s all happening now.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has announced that the Queensland All Codes Racing Industry Board, the Queensland Greyhound Racing Board, the Queensland Harness Racing Board and the Queensland Thoroughbred Racing Board have all been abolished and that Racing Queensland CEO Darren Condon has been stood down and asked to ‘show cause’ why he should not be removed.

The Premier made these far-reaching decisions within twenty-four hours of taking delivery of the MacSporran Commission of Inquiry’s final report into the live baiting scandal which exploded in the face of the greyhound racing industry in February.

Those actions were not surprising at all.

The facts relating to animal cruelty were so clear-cut, the evidence so deplorable ... much of which was known before the report was released ... that swift, uncompromising action was a given.

The government’s silence while the Inquiry was still in progress might have had some believing in a false dawn as they clung to the life-boats but the wave of change arrived as expected with the release of the Inquiry report and forcefully washed away the entire management structure of what is now the previous Racing Queensland set-up.

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While greyhound racing will have its work cut out trying to survive what Commissioner Alan MacSporran QC described as "an almost terminal blow" in terms of public confidence with regard to its activities, it is the level of collateral damage to the thoroughbred and harness codes which will be closely monitored.

The fact that they are even caught up in the greyhound shame is unfortunate.

Some participants never wanted an all-encompassing control body, preferring to keep the three codes separate from each other ... and many others since then have acknowledged the all code model has not worked. But no change was mooted, even when the popular opinion called for it and thus racing in general now has to deal with the hand it effectively dealt itself.

With the respective boards dissolved, the government has appointed Ian Hall from KPMG to ‘advise on implementation of interim administrative arrangements and to ensure effective ongoing management of Racing Queensland’.

And judging by the Commission’s report, Hall has plenty to work on.

The report refers to Racing Queensland’s ‘failure to appropriately assess and manage the risk.’ It talks of ‘systemic failure’ and calls another position taken as being ‘completely unacceptable.’

The report further underlines a ‘fundamental failure in RQ’s system for the regulation and maintenance of integrity’ and concludes that the failures observed are what ‘one would expect to see where the overall system of regulation is fundamentally flawed.’

We need not go any further.

The report that has scuttled every racing board in Queensland is a damning one!

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Will the CEO survive?

I don’t know if you’ll be able to find a bookmaker taking bets on this one, but stranger things have happened.

The ‘form’ though suggests that Darren Condon will have to come up with one of the best ‘show cause’ responses ever to hold his job ... the ‘form’ being the Commission’s views on Condon’s performance as CEO, which is already a matter of record.

The commissioner has questioned Condon’s appreciation of his role and responsibility as CEO and has put forward the opinion that the CEO had failed to meet the identified KPIs.

Also, from the report, ‘The Commission’s view is that the very nature of the role of a CEO is to influence, to ensure integrity, to ensure compliance, to ensure the management of risks, to ensure a strong organisation which delivers strong, accountable and transparent outcomes right across the board.

‘The Commission finds that use of the explanation by the CEO of “oversight and not influence” with respect to how he is to discharge his duties concerning the integrity of the racing industry is naïve and impractical.’

Condon has five days in which to deliver his ‘defence’ submission.

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Where to from here?

The Commission’s recommendations under consideration by the government include:

The Commission recommends a new statutory authority be created which is dedicated to ensuring the integrity of the Queensland racing industry. The Commission recommends the new statutory authority be the Queensland Racing Integrity Commission (QRIC) and be headed by the statutory position of Racing Integrity Commissioner (RIC). The RIC must be a full-time position.

The QRIC should represent the State and the RIC is to report directly to the Minister responsible for administering the Racing Act. The Commission recommends the new authority be created as soon as possible.

In the Commission’s view the current operational model is flawed and the Commission recommends an alternative model where the commercial and integrity aspects of the industry are completely separated. This model is designed to allow the control body to concentrate on the business of racing and maximise its prospects of commercial success whilst the new Queensland Racing Integrity Commission (QRIC) is entirely focussed on ensuring integrity within the industry with the aim of restoring public confidence.

The new board should consist of seven members, all of whom are to be appointed by the Governor in Council.

Four of the members are to be entirely independent of the racing industry during the period of board membership and to have had no relevant connection to the racing industry (ownership of horses or greyhounds or membership of a race club or organisation) for a period of at least two years prior to appointment.

The four members should collectively possess qualifications and experience in the field of accounting, law, business, commercial and marketing development. The Chair and Deputy Chair should be appointed from these four members.

The remaining three members should have relevant experience in the industry and be drawn, one each, from each of the codes of racing.

Where to from here indeed!

High profile racing identity David Fowler has expressed strong views on the proposed, new, seven member board in his weekly blog ‘My Call’ which appears exclusively on HRO. See separate article.

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