ASKING THE QUESTION: HOW IS ESTABLISHMENT OF QUEENSLAND'S NEW RACING APPEALS PANEL TRACKING?

By Graham Potter | Friday, January 27, 2023

Concerns that the implementation of the much needed and very important changes to Queensland Racing’s judicial system is behind schedule have been addressed by the Department Of Agriculture and Fisheries after a they were approached directly for comment.

That’s right ... the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries ... whose link to the establishment of a new Racing Appeals Panel, which is due to operate under new and much more efficient parameters, might appear difficult to understand at first glance ... but the government workings obviously sometimes evolves in mysterious ways.

To their credit, when the department was approached, a Queensland Government spokesman responded very quickly.

The questions put forward were:

One:

Could you please clarify how the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries comes into this matter and the part it plays?

And:

Two:

The Racing Minister has indicated for some time that it is proposed that the new Racing Appeals Panel be in place by the end of March ... obviously with all panel members finalised and ready to go.

How is that process tracking timewise overall ... and in terms of the selection of panel members in particular?

The replies to these questions were:

One:

‘The Racing Appeals Panel is a new independent statutory oversight body which will hear and decide applications for the review of stewards’ racing decisions.

‘Under the Racing Integrity Amendment Act 2022, the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) is responsible for the administrative arrangements that will support the Panel.’

Two:

‘To ensure the effectiveness of this important decision-making body, DAF is engaging with a range of representatives from across the racing industry on the operational requirements for the Panel to ensure it is operational by the end of March 2023.

‘Applications for panel members will open in the near future. Interested and eligible persons can contact rap.project@daf.qld.gov.au for further information.’

While it is fair to suggest that many stakeholders would have thought that the selection process for the panel members would be further along than it currently is, the Government still has a little over two months in which to meet their own proposed deadline.

It would also be fair to say that they have the intention to do so and that, given the unhappy trials and tribulations that racing in Queensland has suffered from in this area in the past, it really is incumbent on them to do so.

*The pertinent points of The Racing Integrity Amendment Bill 2022 include:

**Applications for review must be lodged within three business days; The majority of decisions will be reviewed within seven business; In more serious cases, the Panel will finalise its review within 20 business days; Appeals to QCAT can only be made where the penalty imposed by the stewards’ is three months or more, and will be limited to the severity of the penalty and there will need to be exceptional circumstances for QCAT to grant a stay.

**The Panel will include members with legal and racing experience, the Panel chairperson is required to have at least five years’ legal standing and two additional Panel members will be selected from a pool of appointed people with relevant racing or other experience