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MEDIA RELEASE
October 21, 2008
Successful Country Racing Forum
Queensland Racing Limited (QRL) chairman, Mr Bob Bentley, today acknowledged the participation and quality of contribution by a broad cross section of industry stakeholders drawn from the length and breadth of Queensland.
The two-day forum which concluded at lunch time today discussed a range of issues that were raised during nine regional industry seminars that were conducted during June this year.
“Subsequent to the regional seminars, we undertook to confront a number of issues faced by Country Racing head on and successfully worked through these issues with the forum of industry stakeholders in attendance at Doomben over the last two days,” Mr Bentley said.
Issues discussed included:
- corporate governance;
- minimum race day standards;
- funding for non-TAB racing; and
- racing policy.
“These issues were discussed by the forum which was divided into four working groups, each consisting of approximately 18 participants,” Mr Bentley said.
“Each working group received a detailed presentation and subsequently discussed the particular issues and worked towards an outcome particular to that issue.
“The outcomes of each working group were then presented to the collective forum so as to ensure an understanding of the outcomes of the working groups’ discussions.”
At the end of the first day, the Queensland Country Racing Committee met informally to review and further discuss these outcomes with a view to reaching agreement.
“The outcomes of this meeting were outlined to the forum at the commencement of proceedings today, and the attached slide show which highlights these outcomes was also presented to the full forum at the completion of today’s proceedings,” Mr Bentley said.
“Importantly we were able to reach agreement on a number of critical issues and agree a way forward on those matters that did not attract unanimous support.
“This unanimous support was forthcoming to progress a number of the above-mentioned issues.”
Other matters discussed as part of the forum, included:
- the Queensland Community Racing Scheme;
- the training track subsidy scheme;
- new initiatives regarding the engagement of jockeys;
- financial compliance and initiatives;
- training and licensing; and
- the new QTIS 600 initiative.
“In summary, there can be little doubt that the Country Racing forum was successful with all country racing participants able to actively participate in an open forum,” Mr Bentley said.
Ends.
QUEENSLAND Racing web news: October 21
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