Between and 2022 and 2024, three inquiries were held into the integrity of the Tasmanian racing industry. The Tasmanian Government were forced to respond to the avalanche of complaints from members of the public and the racing industry about toxic government and industry environments, race fixing and serial animal welfare abuses.
The Minister framed the first investigation as a review of the state’s racing laws. However, it is far more likely to be a reaction to a string of ongoing issues with Tasracing and the Tasmanian Office of Racing Integrity (ORI). Unusually, no terms of reference were provided for the review.
- The Monteith Review was a comprehensive 2022 review of the Racing Regulation Act 2004. It recommended the abolishment of the Office of Racing Integrity (ORI) and the creation of a new, independent Tasmanian Racing Integrity Commissioner (TasRIC).
- The 2022 Sykes Report (TasRacing Animal Welfare Review) delivered a damning assessment of the Tasmanian racing industry, highlighting failure to meet basic animal welfare standards and structural, leadership, and staffing concerns.
- The Murrihy Investigation was commissioned in March 2023 following allegations of race fixing, team driving, and animal abuse in the harness racing sector. The final report, released in early 2024, made several adverse findings and accelerated legislative reforms.
In September 2021, with regard to the Monteith Review, the Tasmanian Racing Club, Tasmanian Trotting Club and the Hobart Greyhound Racing Club stated that if the review was limited to the Racing Act 2004, it would not “deliver the transformative structural change that the Tasmanian Racing Industry so desperately needs”.
These reviews led to the introduction of the Racing Regulation and Integrity Bill 2023, which established a new integrity model where stewards and day-to-day animal welfare are managed by a dedicated unit within Tasracing.
The Bill gave complete control of animal welfare and integrity to TasRacing. The overarching objective of Tasracing is to “provide a commercially viable future for racing in Tasmania“. Tasracing describes greyhounds as “racing product” and there is no commitment to animal welfare expressed in any of their material.
Embedding animal welfare and integrity in this commercial gambling operation ensures that the treatment of greyhounds will continue to be exploitative and abusive.
While the Bill established a Tasmanian Racing Integrity Commissioner (TasRIC), it has no power of enforcement over animal welfare or integrity. It is an advisory body only. All such powers reside with the commercial entity Tasracing. Tasracing will also have control over racing rules, both national and local, including all integrity and animal welfare policies.