New racing licence for veterinarians threatens racing industry

Equine veterinarians from the Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) are warning of serious impacts to the racing industry if Racing NSW proceeds with a new rule governing the activities of vets who treat race horses in New South Wales.

AVA’s President, Dr Ben Gardiner said that veterinarians are already regulated, licensed and held to account by the NSW government through the Veterinary Practitioners’ Board, and that Racing NSW have not provided any evidence that additional regulation is needed.

“In fact, so effective has the regulation been that Racing NSW has only seen the need to make one complaint against a vet to the Board in the last seven years,” Dr Gardiner said.

“And vets were recently listed in the top ten most trusted professions in Australia.”

While AVA members strongly support maintaining the highest levels of integrity in racing, the association believes the Veterinary Practitioners’ Board should be the only regulator for vets.

“Our members feel so strongly about this that many have told us they will have no choice but to end their involvement with racing as this just adds an unnecessary layer of red tape. There are 140 race clubs in rural and regional NSW that are likely to be affected. Many vets contribute to their local race club on race day as a community service and will no longer be willing to do so if the proposed licensing system becomes a reality,” Dr Gardiner said.

“And if there are no vets, there are no races.”

“Further regulation is unnecessary and will have unintended consequences to the racing industry.”