The minority Liberal Government has not shown one ounce of integrity or transparency in its handling of allegations made in the harness racing industry.
The concerns raised by industry participants is highly alarming and should have been dealt with much earlier when the industry was asking for action.
It is astounding that it has been allowed to fester this long.
Documents unveiled through Right to Information (RTI) show that absolutely nothing was being done to remedy the situation despite the TasRacing CEO believing the issue would go “nuclear”.
Any complaint that was received by the former racing Minister Madeleine Ogilvie was immediately forwarded to the Office of Racing Integrity (ORI) and then nothing happened.
Even emails complaining about ORI’s handling of the matter were sent to ORI – it is just flabbergasting.
The RTI documents also bizarrely show that emails from the ABC requesting interviews from the Yole racing stable were then sent by the Yole Stable to the Office of Racing Integrity.
If these allegations were not publicly reported, allegations of team driving and race fixing would never have been properly investigated.
This is a huge indictment on the Liberal Government, they’ve let down the racing industry again.
Labor is pleased that the independent investigation into the harness racing industry is ongoing.
Labor welcomes the fact a review has finally been initiated and looks forward to reading the findings of the inquiry, which will be released at the end of the month.
Ella Haddad MP
Member for Clark
