Racing Integrity Act 2016

This Act may be cited as the Racing Integrity Act 2016.

This Act commences on a day to be fixed by proclamation.

The main purposes of this Act are—

to maintain public confidence in the racing of animals in Queensland for which betting is lawful; and

to ensure the integrity of all persons involved with racing or betting under this Act or the Racing Act; and

to safeguard the welfare of all animals that are or have been involved in racing under this Act or the Racing Act.

The purposes are to be achieved primarily by—

establishing the Queensland Racing Integrity Commission; and

regulating racing bookmakers by establishing a framework that provides for—

licensing by the commission; and

the granting of offcourse approvals; and

establishing the Racing Appeals Panel to review the decisions of stewards under the rules of racing; and

authorising particular information relating to the decisions of stewards to be made available to the public.

This Act applies both within and outside Queensland.

This Act applies outside Queensland to the full extent of the extraterritorial legislative power of the Parliament.

The dictionary in schedule 1 defines particular words used in this Act.

This Act binds the State and, as far as the legislative authority of the Parliament permits, the Commonwealth and the other States.

However, an entity mentioned in subsection (1) can not be prosecuted for an offence against this Act.

The Queensland Racing Integrity Commission (the commission) is established.

The commission consists of the commissioner, each deputy commissioner and the staff of the commission.

The staff are to be employed under the Public Sector Act 2022.

However, race day stewards are employed under this Act and not the Public Sector Act 2022.

The commission represents the State.

Without limiting subsection (1), the commission has the status, privileges and immunities of the State.

The commission is—

a unit of public administration under the Crime and Corruption Act 2001; and

a statutory body under the Financial Accountability Act 2009 and the Statutory Bodies Financial Arrangements Act 1982.

The Statutory Bodies Financial Arrangements Act 1982, part 2B explains how that Act affects the commission’s powers.

The commission has the following functions—

to license animals and participants that are suitable to be licensed for a code of racing;

to assess under this Act the suitability of an applicant to be an approved control body;

to conduct audits of licence holders to decide if the licence holders continue to be suitable to be licensed, on the commission’s own initiative or at the request of the Minister;

to investigate complaints about matters relevant to a code of racing, on the commission’s own initiative or at the request of the Minister, including—

complaints about the processes of a control body; and

complaints about a licence holder;

to conduct investigations into breaches of this Act or the Racing Act;

to oversee the integrity of race meetings, including matters preliminary to race meetings;Examples of matters preliminary to race meetings——jumpouts, trackwork sessions, trials

to manage testing of things, including developing or adopting procedures about the way things for analysis are to be taken and dealt with;

to keep records that provide for the identification and monitoring of animals; Example—records that show the ‘end-to-end tracking’ of an animal

to safeguard the welfare of any animal involved, whether directly or indirectly and whether lawfully or unlawfully, in racing;

to safeguard the welfare of any animal that—

used to be involved in racing in Queensland or another jurisdiction; and

is in the possession of a person licensed under the thoroughbred or harness codes of racing;

to make decisions about disciplinary matters;

to prevent noncompliance and lapses in integrity, as far as practicable, in the racing industry;

to promote compliance and integrity, and to promote animal welfare and prevent animal cruelty, by educating, providing information for, and working with, participants;

to regularly review and assess compliance and the integrity of participants and practices in the racing industry, on the commission’s own initiative or at the request of the Minister;

to work collaboratively with entities responsible for investigating and prosecuting offences, including—

sharing information with the entities for crime prevention; and

in circumstances where the commission reasonably suspects an offence may have been committed;

to identify opportunities for cooperative partnerships with entities to improve compliance and integrity in the racing industry;

to report and make recommendations to the Minister about matters relevant to the performance of its functions and any other matters referred to it by the Minister;

to make all necessary inquiries it believes necessary to fulfil a function mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (p);

to perform a function incidental to a function mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (p);

to perform a function given to it under another Act.

In this section—compliance includes compliance with this Act or the Racing Act.processes, of a control body, includes policies, systems, actions and decisions made by the control body.

It is not a function of the commission to investigate—

a matter that has already been decided by a court, a tribunal or the Racing Appeals Panel; or

a matter the subject of an unfinished proceeding that has started in a court, a tribunal or the Racing Appeals Panel.

The commission has all the powers of an individual and may, for example—

enter into contracts or agreements; and

acquire, hold, deal with, and dispose of, property; and

appoint agents and attorneys; and

engage consultants and researchers; and

charge a fee for services and other facilities it supplies; and

do anything else necessary or convenient to be done in performing its functions.

Without limiting subsection (1), the commission has the powers given to it under this Act or another Act.