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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 11 Hansard (10 December) . . Page.. 3426 ..

MS CARNELL (continuing):

Mr Speaker, moving to the general provisions, the Racing Bill 1998 broadly: Establishes the boundaries of lawful racing and betting; provides that races and race meetings conducted by the controlling bodies are lawful and for the purposes of betting; establishes each individual ACT race club as the controlling body for its particular code of racing; establishes the ACT Racing Appeals Tribunal and sets its roles, powers and functions and operational arrangements; and repeals the existing Racecourses Act 1935.

I want to specifically address some of these provisions. The Bill makes provision for each ACT racing club to become a controlling body. It is recognised that the three race clubs in the ACT - the ACT Racing Club, the Canberra Harness Racing Club and the Canberra Greyhound Racing Club - are all at differing stages of development and progress towards attaining principal club status. Accordingly, as the clubs are ready to take the significant step to become a controlling body, the appropriate part of the Act will be commenced by notification in the Gazette. This process will ensure that all necessary systems and arrangements are in place before a club progresses or commences as a controlling body.

The Racing Appeals Tribunal has been established to provide an independent appeals body to consider appeals against decisions of stewards and controlling bodies. The Racing Appeals Tribunal structure and arrangements are entirely consistent with appeals mechanisms in all other jurisdictions.

The provisions of the Racecourses Act 1935 were examined under the national competition policy review processes and the required elements have been incorporated in the general racecourse licensing provisions of the Bill.

In addition, the national competition policy review process also recognised the provisions in the Bill which establish a regime for persons and bodies, other than the controlling bodies, to seek approval to conduct race meetings. In particular, the Racing Bill 1998 provides the approval process for the approved racing organisations - AROs - through the following: A controlling body may seek the approval of the Minister for betting to be allowed on races conducted by the controlling body on behalf of another person or body; or any other person or body to apply to the Minister to become an approved racing organisation to conduct other types of race meetings and have betting at such meetings.

It is recognised that these provisions go further than establishing a framework for the traditional racing codes alone. As the competition policy reviews of racing legislation in other Australian jurisdictions are at varying stages of progress, and we need to be cognisant of national trends, it is possible that these broader provisions may be reviewed at a later stage.

In addition, it is expected that the provisions of the Racing Bill 1998 will need to be amended to accommodate the possible establishment of an independent Gaming and Racing Commission for the Territory in the near future. The establishment of the commission, as recommended by the Allen Consulting Group, would enable many of the day-to-day administrative responsibilities to be placed with the commission rather than the responsible Minister. This would provide a more transparent regulatory framework for the racing industry.

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