Fuller v Racing Queensland Limited

CITATION: Fuller v Racing Queensland Limited [2011] QCAT 685

PARTIES:	Miss Tricia Fuller
v
Racing Queensland Limited

APPLICATION NUMBER:   OCR131-11

MATTER TYPE: Occupational regulation matters

HEARING DATE: On the papers

HEARD AT: Brisbane

DECISION OF: Peta Stilgoe, Member

DELIVERED ON: 16 September 2011

DELIVERED AT: Brisbane

ORDERS MADE:      The decision of Racing Queensland made on 24 June 2011 to impose a penalty of 4 months’ disqualification is set aside and in lieu thereof a penalty of 4 month’s suspension be imposed.

CATCHWORDS: 

RACING – APPEAL ON PENALTY – where dog tested positive to hydroxyl stanazol – where hydroxyl stanazol prescribed as part of treatment regime – where veterinarian advice that hydroxyl stanazol should have been eliminated from the dog’s system by the time dog was presented – where Racing Queensland changed policy in relation to penalty – whether change of policy referred to in article – whether sufficient notice of change of policy – whether grounds for change of policy – whether penalty imposed for a breach of Greyhound Racing Rule 83(2)(d) is excessive

Greyhound Racing Rule 83(2)(d)

Wiggins v Racing Queensland Limited [2011] QCAT 370

APPEARANCES and REPRESENTATION (if any):

This matter was heard on the papers in accordance with section 32 of the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2009.

REASONS FOR DECISION

1. Star Bomber is owned and trained by Miss Fuller.  It won Race 8 at Albion Park on 27 April 2011.  As a matter of course, Star Bomber’s urine was tested.  It returned a positive result for hydroxyl stanazol, which is a prohibited substance.  Miss Fuller was found guilty of an offence under Greyhound Racing Rule 83(2)(d) and disqualified from racing for four months.

2. Miss Fuller has appealed the severity of the penalty on these grounds:

a)Similar offences in Queensland have attracted a suspension, rather than a disqualification.

b)The positive swab was a result of veterinary treatment.

c)Disqualification places an unnecessary burden on Miss Fuller.

1. Racing Queensland has supplied a schedule of previous penalties for a person found guilty of presenting a dog with hydroxyl stanazol.  The maximum penalty in Queensland was a six month suspension and $750 fine handed to J Quarman in 2009.

2. The penalties in New South Wales have been more severe, usually resulting in a disqualification of six months.  In their reasons for decision, the Stewards said this about penalty[1]:

   We were mindful of the penalties in New South Wales which in most circumstances have been periods of disqualification.  We are also mindful that in Queensland, since Racing Queensland has taken control of the greyhound racing industry, a notice was placed in the magazine in relation to the matter of penalties and that it was considered in some aspects there that the penalties were not serving as a deterrent.  Accordingly, the penalties should be reviewed.

   We feel in the circumstances, in the normal scheme of things, that a disqualification period as such set out by New South Wales of six months would be somewhere the benchmark for stanazol.

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