Background
The Racing Regulation Act 2004 has not been substantially reviewed since its inception. That is why the Government announced a review of the Act and the broader racing integrity model in Tasmania, led by independent expert Mr Dale Monteith, with the view to strengthening and enhancing integrity functions, as well as animal welfare.
On 8 June 2022, the Government released the Review of the Racing Regulation Act 2004: Securing the Integrity of the Tasmanian Racing Industry (the Monteith Review).
The Government carefully considered each of the recommendations and confirmed support, or in principle support, for all the recommendations contained within the Monteith Review, including but not limited to:
- Creating a Tasmanian Racing Integrity Commissioner with powers to set integrity and animal welfare standards and comprehensive audit, compliance and investigatory functions;
- Enhancing integrity governance within Tasracing, with Tasracing to become operationally responsible for all three Codes of racing and pre-race day and race day management, including Stewards and animal daily animal welfare; and
- Providing a policy role for the RSPCA in animal welfare and retaining the power for independent investigation of animal welfare matters.
The draft Racing Regulation and Integrity Bill has been developed in response to the Monteith Review and Government response. The draft legislation, along with the draft Racing and Integrity (Consequential Amendments) Bill is now open for public consultation.
An Explanatory Paper has been developed to describe the provisions in the draft Racing Regulation and Integrity Bill in simple language.
Download the Explanatory Paper and draft Bills
Download the supporting Fact Sheets
Racing Regulation and Integrity Bill - Overview (PDF 74Kb)
Racing Regulation and Integrity Bill - Current and Future State (PDF 97Kb)
Racing Regulation and Integrity Bill - Complaints Process (PDF 92Kb)
Racing Regulation and Integrity Bill - Animal Welfare (PDF 138Kb)
Public consultation
sessions
The Department of
Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania will be holding information sessions
throughout the State in September.
There are limited places available due to capacity of the rooms, so registration to attend is necessary. Anyone wishing to attend can register using the link associated with the session in their preferred location:
**Extra session added - Hobart: Friday 29 September 2023
Lands Building
134 Macquarie Street Hobart
Public session 11.30am-1.00pm
Reserve your spot using Eventbrite
Hobart: Thursday 14 September
2023
Level 1, 134 Macquarie Street Hobart
Public Session 4:00-5:30pm
Invermay: Monday 18 September 2023
89-91 Lindsay Street Invermay
Public Session 5:30-7:00pm
Devonport: Wednesday 20 September 2023
1-2 Rundle Street Devonport
Public Session - 11:00am-12:30pm
How to have your say
The Tasmanian Government is committed to providing opportunities for community involvement in the development of Government policy and the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania is seeking your input on the Draft Racing Regulation and Integrity Bill. All written submissions on the paper must be received by 5:00pm on Friday 6 October 2023.
Submissions can be made:
Important information to note
Your name (or the name of the organisation) will be published unless you request otherwise.
In the absence of a clear indication that a submission is intended to be treated as confidential (or parts of the submission), the submission will be treated as public.
If you would like your submission treated as confidential, whether in whole or in part, please indicate this in writing at the time of making your submission clearly identifying the parts of your submission you want to remain confidential and the reasons why. In this case, your submission will not be published to the extent of that request.
Copyright in submissions remains with the author(s), not with the Tasmanian Government.
Submissions containing defamatory or offensive material, in whole or in part, will not be published.
If your submission includes information that could enable the identification of other individuals, then either all or parts of the submission will not be published.
The Right to Information Act 2009 and Confidentiality
Information provided to the Government may be provided to an applicant under the provisions of the Right to Information Act 2009 (RTI). If you have indicated that you wish all or part of your submission to be treated as confidential, your statement detailing the reasons may be taken into account in determining whether or not to release the information in the event of an RTI application for assessed disclosure. You may also be contacted to provide any further comment.
If you would like your submission treated as confidential, whether in whole or in part, please indicate this in writing at the time of making your submission clearly identifying the parts of your submission you want to remain confidential and the reasons why. In this case, your submission will not be published to the extent of that request, subject to review under the Act.
Your name (or the name of the organisation) will be published unless you request otherwise.
In the absence of a clear indication that a submission is intended to be treated as confidential (or parts of the submission), the Department will treat the submission as public.
Submissions that are provided anonymously should avoid any content that enables the author or source to be identified.
What other information will not be made public?
Defamatory or offensive material will not be published.
Next Steps
Once feedback is received it will be considered before the final Bill is presented to Parliament later this year.