Police in Canberra will not pursue Greens MLA Shane Rattenbury for "failing" to pass on evidence of animal cruelty in Canberra's greyhound racing industry, after determining no crime had been committed.
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The Canberra Greyhound Racing Club last month reported the ACT politician to the police after he told a Canberra radio station he'd seen reports of cruelty within the Canberra industry.
The club alleged Mr Rattenbury "failed" in his "legal and moral responsibility" to pass this information onto the authorities.
But acting Chief Police Officer Mark Walters said the report, which was made via the Crimestoppers online tool, failed to prove Mr Rattenbury had done anything wrong.
"ACT Policing will not be conducting an investigation in accordance with that request as no criminality has been identified in any information provided to us," he wrote.
Acting CPO Walters also provided Mr Rattenbury with the Crime Stoppers number - 1800 333 000 - so he knew where to report allegations of animal cruelty in future.
Club spokesman Kel Watt believed Mr Rattenbury did not cooperate with police.
He denied the police referral was an attempt to distract from or delay an impending ban on the sport.
"For him not to report evidence animal cruelty was quite remarkable. Or he simply didn't have it and lied for a political purpose," Mr Watt said.
Mr Rattenbury told the Assembly earlier this month he did not claim to have knowledge of individual cases of abuse and the police referral was a "terrible waste" of resources.
"I have never made such a claim, I have never had such information. What I was speaking to at the time was the fact both the Durkin report and the McHugh report identified instances [of animal cruelty] in the ACT. I was not suggesting I had individual information," Mr Rattenbury said.
The club also began defamation action against Mr Rattenbury based on the same interview.
They have also flagged plans to fight the ban in court, in a bid to reverse the redirection of $1 million of industry funding into an assistance fund.
Racing minister Gordon Ramsay last week signed a five-year memorandum of understanding with the harness and thoroughbred racing industries, agreeing to support them with $7 million worth of funding in the next year.
