Dr. Lynn Hillyer:

We started the training of our officers the moment we began to go into the system with the memorandum of understanding, MoU, last year. We have extensively gone out to our teams to look at the skill sets that we had. I should probably explain. The skill sets we have within officials in racing are varied.

There are some who, perhaps, have not gone into tertiary level education, some have come straight from school and some have gone all the way and have PhDs. It just depends. What they all have in common is that they are expert horse people and they understand racing. They know how to work around horses and understand racing and racing people. Perhaps more importantly, they understand what we are trying to achieve.

When we looked at how to structure our recruitment, training and assessment for the authorised officer team, we looked at the skills required to do the authorised work effectively, correctly and fully. We took advice from the existing authorised officer team within the Department. We looked at where they came from and their backgrounds and we acted accordingly. To cut a long story short in the interests of time - and I am happy to talk about it in depth on another occasion - we invited applications of interest from our team. We invited applicants to a preliminary session hosted by the Department at which there was a run-through of what the authorised officer piece would involve, including the responsibilities and accountability involved and the skill sets required. We laid it on the line quite strongly as to what was involved because we did not want people to be going in with anything other than their eyes open. We then had a very rigorous interview and selection process, which resulted in the 12 officers being interviewed, assessed and followed through on.

The training has been based on material provided by the Department. As you would expect, it is material about the legislation itself. It is material concerning how they conduct their business as authorised officers. It is material relating to ongoing assessment. I should point out that we have a consultant from the Department on a permanent retainer, as it were, to act as mentor for the team. We are in constant dialogue and contact with the Department about the work we have done so far, seeking feedback and assessment. What I am trying to say is that a lot of thought has been given to this. I am from a teaching and training background. I have taught students from different backgrounds and of varying abilities. It is something that is very important to me. It was particularly important for the organisation that when we embarked upon this and took on this responsibility, it was handled and taken seriously.

The book is still open. There is a draft training manual and we are still adding to it. We will take time this year to review our activity in conjunction with the Department in order to ensure that we have a complete document. At that point, I would be very happy to make it public in the interests of transparency. Currently, we have to do a bit more before we would be in a position to produce it properly.