By Mark Ainsworth APM, Acting Queensland Racing Integrity Commissioner

A HIGHLIGHT of the Queensland greyhound calendar is the annual Greyhound of the Year awards, which were held on March 19.

Of course I was especially rapt with one particular presentation – the QRIC Welfare Award, which went to Townsville Trainer Jo Wooler.

Jo is a big supporter of the North Queensland Greyhound Adoption Program (GAP) sending her retired dogs to the program with successful rehoming outcomes. Congratulations Jo.

National body wants your input on new rules

Greyhound Australasia (GA) is seeking feedback from industry participants and stakeholders to assist in further developing the revised Greyhound Australasia (GA) National Rules.

The main purpose in rewriting the national rules was to;

• improve the structure of the GARs;
• make the GARs easier to read for people in the greyhound racing industry;
• simplify and/or modernise the language used in the rules where possible;
• ensure key welfare and integrity obligations, currently adopted locally, are included in the national framework.

Greyhound Australasia (GA) National Rules, as adopted by each jurisdiction, form an integral part of the conduct of greyhound racing and in achieving consistency in greyhound racing across Australian States and Territories and New Zealand.

The QRIC has welcomed the addition of several rule changes and clarifications in relation to animal welfare as the industry works to continuously improve and support the welfare of racing animals.

To assist in further developing the working draft, I would like to reiterate the call from GA to seek industry feedback to further develop the revised national rules.

This public consultation phase of the project includes the distribution of the draft rules, thus providing all stakeholders with the opportunity to provide feedback and this phase commences today.  The draft rules can be found on the QRIC website under standards and rules.

A summary table describing the key changes and aimed at assisting you to reference between obligations in the current, and proposed, national rules is also available on the websites.

GA has also requested that feedback should be provided, by completing and returning the feedback form, (also available on the QRIC website under standards and rules) and submitted to GA by no later than 5pm on 19 April, 2021.