Dr WOODRUFF – Minister, currently the Greyhound Local Rules of Racing have it that the Director of Racing, the head of the integrity body ORI, signs off on killing dogs, so-called euthanising. The Greyhound Adoption Program or the head of Tasracing has to apply to ORI to have a greyhound killed. That is the current situation. The new act, which you’ve talked about a number of times, has, as I understand, responsibility for this decision moving to Tasracing. Can you clarify if that’s the case?
Ms WILSON – TasRIC will set the animal welfare standards, which can go to matters, and would go to matters, such as euthanasia. We don’t have the system in place, but there will be an integrity unit and a chief racing integrity officer, and there will be appropriate controls in place around the matter you’ve raised.
Dr WOODRUFF – Our concern is that, fundamentally, this moves it from a separate integrity body into a regulation within the Tasracing body, which is the racing industry body. We are concerned that it puts the extra pressure to fast-track the killing of dogs because we know from leaked documents from the Greyhound Adoption Program that Tasracing has been in a process of reassessing their so-called throughput policy which includes the possibility of killing more dogs. This was something from March 2023.
Under the new act, Tasracing will now have the power to kill dogs. We know that there is great pressure for them to do this because the list for greyhounds to access the GAP is so long. When trainers can’t get their dogs into GAP because of the long waiting list, they’re responsible for keeping that animal, protecting it and feeding it. Minister, we are deeply concerned that this will add more pressure from an industry-run body to fast-track the killing of dogs instead of rehoming them because we simply have so many greyhounds.
CHAIR – Noting it was the Greens who were originally asking me to pull the minister up on answer times, that was a minute-and-a-half question. I haven’t actually heard a question yet.
Dr WOODRUFF – The question is: can you see the concern that this is going to have with the pressure to kill more dogs?
Ms HOWLETT – When it comes to processes for and influences on any rules of racing, the bill provides for the commissioner’s oversight and influence. The commissioner will review, endorse or refuse to endorse an annual integrity and animal welfare plan, including budgets, from Tasracing. I note that a lot of your questions were in relation to the GAP facility and Tasracing, and we’ll have that opportunity in GBE scrutiny in December. A DA has been submitted to Southern Midlands Council to increase the greyhound adoption facility to allow for more greyhounds to be adopted through that facility.
Dr WOODRUFF – Reading from the GAP Throughput Working Group in March 2023, Tasracing said it recognised the importance of GAP operating ‘effectively and achieving a desired volume of adoptions consistently’, and that there is ‘a strong feeling of frustration from greyhound participants towards GAP’. Then they went on to say that:
GAP will adjust to function in alignment with the following key principles. One of them is difficult end‑of‑life decisions will need to be made. It is recognised a small number of greyhounds will not be suitable for rehoming via GAP and in some cases euthanasia will be an appropriate step.
We now have Tasracing responsible for making this decision instead of the Office of Racing Integrity, the killing of greyhounds. Don’t you agree that this increases the risk from industry pressure for more dogs to be killed?
Ms HOWLETT – As I explained to Dr Woodruff earlier, that is a matter for the scrutiny of Tasracing in December.
Dr WOODRUFF – You are the minister.
Ms HOWLETT – We have a very strong focus on animal welfare and we’re investing more money on animal welfare than ever before. As I mentioned, there is a DA currently at the Southern Midlands Council to increase the GAP facilities there. Would you like to add any more?
Dr WOODRUFF – I’ll ask a follow-up question to you, minister. You’re the one who set up the legislation, so this is not about kicking it off to Tasracing to answer. You’ve set up the legislation that moves that decision for when dogs are euthanased from ORI, the separate integrity body, into an industry body, Tasracing, to make that decision. That increases the risk of greyhounds being killed because of the huge pressure from the industry itself for this to happen for more dogs to move through fast. Don’t you agree?
CHAIR – It’s the last and then we’ll go to Ms Johnston.
Ms HOWLETT – Would you like to speak about the Chief Veterinary Officer?
Dr WOODRUFF – It’s to you, minister; I’m interested in your views about this.
Ms HOWLETT – I will defer that question to the deputy secretary to talk about the Chief Racing Veterinary Officer, Dr Martin Lenz, who plays a vital role.
Dr WOODRUFF – It’s not about that, minister.
Ms HOWLETT – It is about that, actually. He plays a vital role.
Dr WOODRUFF – It’s about your legislation.
Ms HOWLETT – Also the Tasracing Integrity Unit as well as the appointment of the Tasracing Integrity Commissioner.
Dr WOODRUFF – All under the industry body, Tasracing.
Ms HOWLETT – That’s not true. The Tasracing Integrity Commissioner is not under Tasracing.
Dr WOODRUFF – It’s within it.
Ms HOWLETT – No, it’s not within it.
CHAIR – Order.
Ms WILSON – Just so everyone’s clear and I think most would remember from the debate, there’s a Tasracing Integrity Commissioner, which is outside of Tasracing and within Tasracing is the Chief Racing Integrity Officer, the CRIO. On the legislation and the checks and balances that are put in place, as the minister has identified, there will be a requirement to develop an annual integrity and animal welfare plan, which is submitted to the TasRIC. There were some changes made to the bill based on the debate so that if there’s an investigation, that would be tabled.
I consider the bill to be robust, but controls will be put in place. It would be the integrity in animal welfare plan. It’s the audits that TasRIC can do. It’s the investigations that the TasRIC can also undertake and the reporting that is required. There’s an annual report required from TasRIC.
I’d also add that we that there’s still the role for the independent RSPCA in animal welfare matters and also for BiosecurityTasmania if there needs to be an animal welfare investigation.
