Mr. Brendan Gleeson:

Page 23 has real substance. I draw the attention of members to section 2B which states: "The Board may make regulations for the purposes of subsection (2A), in relation to substances that may be harmful to greyhounds or affect the performance of a greyhound in a greyhound race." Up to now, as I understand it, there have been rules of racing that are non-statutory in nature. There are also powers afforded to the board to regulate various bits of legislation, including the Welfare of Greyhounds Act and the animal remedies Bill. There are powers afforded to the board to regulate under various piece of legislation, including the Welfare of Greyhounds Act and the Animal Remedies Act. We have brought these powers into the legislation that deals with greyhound racing. Unapologetically, we are saying these are powers for the regulation of greyhound racing. They are not powers for the regulation of medicines or other things. We are saying that we want the Greyhound Racing Control Board to have the power to regulate because these substances can interfere with integrity in the greyhound racing sector. By that I mean they can increase or inhibit the performance of a dog or interfere with the welfare of a dog. We are saying that the board may make these regulations on substances that may either be harmful to greyhounds, which is the welfare element, or affect the performance of a greyhound.

We have given it very strong regulatory powers here and, as I said, the Attorney General asked us to have a look at some of these provisions. What it says here is - this is subject to the advice of my lawyer beside me - that because we are giving extensive powers to make regulations, we might have to articulate more clearly in that opening paragraph the principles and policies around those regulations, in other words, outline in exactly what circumstances we can prohibit the use of a substance and say that other substances are to be controlled. We might have to return with some text drafted by the lawyers to outline the principles and policies here. We will do that if we appear again before the committee.