Industry Update - 20 April

Government Announcement on Alert Level Three - 20th April 2020

The ability for the racing codes to resume training and racing under Alert Level Three is contingent on meeting the requirements of various government departments (MPI, MBIE & WorkSafe). The process we are required to follow to establish this is consistent for all sectors. RITA is leading this engagement on behalf of the three racing codes and has been providing comprehensive information to government in advance of today’s announcement.

The immediate priority, in discussions with officials, is to get agreement that there can be a full resumption of training under Alert Level Three, ideally from April 28. With the government’s announcement today that the initial period of Alert Level Three will be for two weeks, it looks increasingly likely that the country will be under Alert Level Two by the time harness racing is scheduled to resume on May 29.

While racing is among a great number of industry sectors that are aiming to go through this process with government, we are confident that we are well prepared in terms of required measures, and through RITA we have already made good in-roads in consultation with appropriate government officials.

We are confident our industry is well placed to respond to the restrictions and requirements of each Alert Level and all three codes are currently doing everything we can to provide the government with the required confidence to allow us to get back up and running

We appreciate there is desire for clear timelines, protocols and assurances. We are committed to providing this as soon as we possibly can. We have prepared a new Order and Direction, which outlines the protocols required for a resumption of full training under Alert Level Three. This will be issued as soon as we have sign-off from government.