A REVISED RACING INTEGRITY ACT PROPOSAL WAITING TO HAPPEN ... AND WAITING, AND WAITING ...

By Graham Potter with Peter Boyce | Friday, May 29, 2020

Well known and well respected legal and racing identity Peter Boyce has an intimate knowledge of the workings of Racing Queensland’s current judicial system, from the time a charge is laid, through all of the appeal processes to a case’s resolution.

The Appeals process, in particular, has long been a thorn in the side of racing and it was very much part of the argument when a group of stakeholders issued a call to action earlier this week.

Having represented and guided numerous participants through the current system over a number of years, Boyce was certainly well placed to respond to the challenge of finding a remedy for the roundly acknowledged, ineffective procedures and delays taking place in the Queensland Racing Appeals process which has troubled stakeholders for many years.

The essence of Boyce’s proposal to review and revise the Racing Integrity Act in order to improve the whole process can be found in an HRO story with the headline, ‘A vitally important improvement plan is on the table. Is government paying attention? You can read that story HERE.

That proposal was sent to government after Racing Minister Stirling Hinchliffe had met with selected industry identities in a racing forum, in mid-2019, where they could provide feedback and suggestions on the way they thought the industry should move forward. The indication at that time was that a response to Boyce’s proposal might be forthcoming by the end of the year. (2019).

To date, not only has no meaningful response been received, but there has been no evidence whatsoever that Hinchliffe and his team has spent any time in consideration of this matter. Whether that is a lack of common courtesy, a shortcoming in owning the responsibility of a Racing Minister or simple a miscommunication problem … it doesn’t matter.

The overall silence, as they say, is deafening … and Peter Boyce, amongst others, is not amused.

“The government needs to move on with this Appeals process review,” said Boyce. “If you are talking about an urgent change you need to at least get rid of the First Level of appeal. That is just a joke.

“The government comes out with all of the excuses in the world … the Martin Report came in (covering a completely separate matter) and they said they were now dealing with it and the Racing Integrity Review as one and the delay is because they were doing that.”

The Martin Report was released in February. As mentioned, that covered a completely different matter to that involved in the Boyce proposal and arrived in a different timeframe, so, for the two matters to be bunked together by government arguably shows just how little progress they had made over many months on the Racing Integrity Act Review before the Martin Report arrived … and, arguably, just how little credence they have given to the opinions submitted by those working within the industry for the betterment of the industry.

“Where are their (the governments) priorities? The industry is screaming at them about how this whole appeals process is just ridiculous, cumbersome and, in the end, doesn’t benefit any side of the industry,” continued Boyce.

“The industry is saying, this process is buggered! Let’s get on with fixing it.

“Usually legislative change is controversial, but this is not. The industry wants this change to the Racing Integrity Act. There is no question about that.

“The people calling for change are doing it for the good of the industry. That is where the government has to get to … acknowledging their important task of doing what is good for the industry and not merely giving it lip service.

“It shouldn’t be a surprise to me the way things are going because, here at the Sunshine Coast Turf Club, we have another running issue with government … that is to do with the funding they are doing with RQ about the replacement of our synthetic track.

You wouldn’t believe how slow and ridiculous that process is. It’s becoming an embarrassment for us because we make promises to others according to what they tell you and then, when nothing happens, our own credibility starts to suffer.

“But that’s another story.”

Peter Boyce