I am pleased to introduce amendments to the Racing Act 2002 which will amalgamate the three
existing racing control bodies, Queensland Racing, Harness Racing Queensland and Greyhounds
Queensland, into one control body, known as Racing Queensland Ltd. It is no secret that the racing
industry’s capital infrastructure has become run down and threatens the competitive ability of the
industry going forward.
The Bligh government has committed to the largest injection of capital from the government in the
history of Queensland’s racing industry. In excess of $80 million will be provided over four years from
July 2010 to June 2014. These funds will be delivered by a racing industry levy of 50 per cent of net
wagering tax collected by the government.
The current multiple control body structure results in duplication of effort and prevents decisions
being made in the best interests of the entire Queensland racing industry.
To ensure this money delivers the best possible outcomes for the industry and a coordinated
approach is taken to industry management and development, a single control body for the Queensland
racing industry will be established. This new combined control body, Racing Queensland Ltd, will be the
racing control body for all three codes of racing and will act in the best interests of the entire racing
industry.
This bill will amend the Racing Act 2002, known as the Racing Act, to:
• establish this one control body for the three codes of racing;
• ensure that the new control body has the necessary powers to manage the three codes of racing;
• abolish entities established under the Racing Act that can be established administratively by the
control body;
• reduce the administrative burden and costs to a control body; and
• clarify provisions relating to taking and dealing with samples from licensed animals.
The bill also amends the Wagering Act 1998 and the Gaming Machine Act 1991 to fund and
enable the payment of monies under the Racing Industry Capital Development Scheme. The bill
transfers the staff, assets, liabilities and responsibilities of the current thoroughbred, harness and
greyhound control bodies to the new control body.
The bill ensures employees earning total remuneration of up to $100,000 per annum will be
employed on the terms and conditions of employment at least equivalent to their current arrangements
for at least two years.
To ensure stability within the new control body structure, the initial directors of Racing
Queensland Ltd will hold office until 2014 and then two directors will retire on a rotational basis every
two years. The initial directors of Racing Queensland Ltd will be the current five directors from the
existing thoroughbred control body, one from the harness control body and one from the greyhound
control body.
The directors of Racing Queensland Ltd will be the only members of the company. It has been
shown that a model which provides membership of the control body company to persons and entities
licensed by the control body does not work and is not in the best interests of the racing industry.
After expiry of the initial term, a selection panel will be responsible for appointing directors to the
control body. It will be made up of—
• the chair or deputy chair of the control body;
• one person who is Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors who is a sitting
member of an ASX Top 200 listed company; and
• one person appointed by the director-general of the department responsible for racing.
In making decisions, the directors of Racing Queensland Ltd will not only be bound by the
requirements of the Corporations Act 2001 and the Racing Act 2002 but will also have to have regard to
the best interests of the thoroughbred, harness and greyhound codes as a whole.
The remuneration of the directors can only be varied with the approval of the chief executive
officer of the department responsible for racing. The constitution of Racing Queensland Ltd establishes
advisory committees for non-TAB racing in all codes, so maintaining thoroughbred-specific bodies in
legislation is now redundant.
The requirement for the thoroughbred control body to pay seven per cent of its net UNiTAB
product fee as prize money for non-TAB racing, or for supporting non-TAB racing, is retained with the
necessary percentage amendments made to reflect the new combined control body structure.
The expiration of a control body approval every six years results in unnecessary costs and an
administrative burden to control bodies. The granting of an approval for an indefinite period rather than
for a period of six years will avoid unnecessary costs and reduce the administrative burden to both the
control body and government.
The bill clarifies the powers of a control body and ensures that it has the necessary powers to
effectively operate within the highly competitive and rapidly changing wagering and racing environment.
I commend the bill to the House.
Debate, on motion of Mr McArdle, adjourned.
