Former Paralympics Australia chief executive Catherine Clarke has been appointed as the head of the Queensland Racing Integrity Commission.
Clarke will replace Shane Gillard as the head of Queensland racing’s integrity body.
Gillard quit his role ahead of the release of a KPMG report into the organisation's workplace culture and management.
Racing Minister Grace Grace commissioned the review, which was to be conducted by KPMG in December. It began in January and was scheduled to report to Minister Grace in the first quarter of 2024.
The QRIC was established in 2016 under a new Racing Integrity Act in response to a Commission of Inquiry held in 2015, which recommended the separation of the industry's welfare and commercial functions.
Its stated function is to monitor racing activities, uphold the Rules of Racing and safeguard the welfare of racing animals.
It reports to the Minister for Racing and is accountable to the Queensland Government under the Financial Accountability Act 2009.
In other QRIC appointments, Chantal Raine will be the new deputy Commissioner. She has been acting in the role since March.
Former Hong Kong chief steward Kim Kelly has been temporarily appointed as acting deputy Racing Integrity Commissioner, pending a recruitment process to permanently fill the role.
Bren O’Brien
“Catherine Clark is an exceptional leader and brings a wealth of experience to the Commissioner role, most recently as the chief executive officer of Paralympics Australia,” Grace said.
“Chantal Raine and Kim Kelly also bring strong skills and experience to their roles.”
Grace confirmed during a parliamentary hearing in July that the KPMG review had been received and that both the commissioner, Shane Gillard, and the deputy commissioner had resigned, but said she did not want to elaborate on the reasons.
The Minister told Parliament she hoped to make the KPMG review public "very soon".
“There is confidentiality in there and I will not breach that confidentiality. A lot of stakeholders and the implementation committee are working on this. I intend to make it public. We are working through those issues,” she said at the time.
Bren O’Brien
During the estimates hearing, Queensland’s shadow Racing Minister Tim Mander suggested that QRIC’s budget had blown out by up to $7 million and labelled it a $40-million-a-year basket case.
