By Greyhounds Australasia CEO Cherie Nicholl

Just as we thought we would be returning to our office in Melbourne we have been locked down again.

Therefore, the GA team continues to work from home, and we expect this to be the case until about mid-August. Throughout this time, we will continue to process all services as we have been doing since the pandemic started. Mostly, without delays.

There are, however, some delays with DNA processing. We use a lab in NZ for the DNA testing as there are no labs currently conducting K9 DNA testing in Australia. Due to the airlines significantly cutting back routes and in many cases ceasing to operate routes, the mail to NZ has slowed considerably.

Our agreement with the lab is to provide results within four weeks and prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, they were doing a great job and results were returned within two weeks. Due to the postal delays it could take up to six weeks for results to be received. It is likely we will need to adapt to these timings until airlines reopen the international flight routes. In the meantime, please speak to your controlling body regarding a waiver if you are impacted by this delay.

The delivery of the Greyhounds Australasia strategic plan projects is an ongoing focus and over recent weeks we have turned our attention to the GA website.  Aside from the fact that it looks quite dated, the way that participants engage with GA through the website is also very dated.

In the coming months we will be working to digitise our processes so that participants are no longer required to print and fax or mail forms to us. Forms will be submitted online which will be more efficient. In addition, we will also be able to process payments securely through the website rather than sending payment details or payments in the mail. This will make the entire process for naming, DNA, registration, and passports much quicker. We will leave the forms on the website for those that prefer the manual processing.

With the end of financial year, we have reviewed the number of services that the GA team have processed. Interestingly, when comparing the services processed in FY 19/20 against FY 18/19, and despite the last quarter of FY 19/20 being significantly impacted by Covid-19, all services except for sire and prefix/suffix registrations increased in FY 19/20.

That is certainly a great sign for our industry, reflecting confidence and growth.

Lastly for this month, it is clear we are not through this pandemic and the indications are that we will be living through these conditions for some time to come.  Please continue to adhere to the directives of state governments, and the controlling bodies in jurisdictions currently under stricter measures. We all need to play our part to keep each other safe and to ensure all jurisdictions can continue to race.

Keep well and keep safe.