ACT Greens leader Shane Rattenbury has used his parliamentary privilege to reveal an investigation was under way into suspect swabs from greyhounds which have raced in Canberra.
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But a spokesman for the Canberra Greyhound Racing Club said the club had already been vindicated and Mr Rattenbury was using his parliamentary privilege to "mislead".
In his adjournment speech on Tuesday, Mr Rattenbury hit back at the club, which last month began defamation action against him after he told Canberra radio station 2CC he had confirmed reports of cruelty within the local racing industry.
According to the club, Mr Rattenbury has until Friday to retract his comments and apologise.
However Mr Rattenbury told the Assembly the case was a "classic SLAPP suit - strategic litigation against public participation - historically a tactic used by dodgy developers to silence community activists and provide a chilling effect on media reporting of issues".
"The Greens believe that greyhound racing is an outdated industry that relies on animal exploitation. Our concern has always been for the welfare of greyhounds in the ACT, and I will not be intimidated or silenced by the bullying tactics of the Canberra Greyhound Racing Club," Mr Rattenbury said.
He said he had been told of a formal complaint currently being investigated by Access Canberra regarding more than 30 "uncleared drug swabs" from greyhounds racing in the ACT from 2012 to 2016.
"This is in addition to five trainers found guilty of using prohibited substances in Canberra. And with less than 6 per cent of starters being swabbed in 2015, there are serious concerns about how comprehensive this data really is," Mr Rattenbury said.
Members of parliament are immune from legal action for anything said or done in the course of parliamentary proceedings.
But Canberra Greyhound Racing spokesman Kel Watt said Mr Rattenbury had used his privilege to "mislead and only give half the story".
He said swabs were used to check the health of the dog as well as for doping, as an integrity and welfare measure.
"It is a very regular event that animal activist groups or individuals make allegations which they're entitled to do. This time and many other times the commission gave the club a clean report," Mr Watt said.
"We would have liked him to complete the story, the Gambling and Racing Commission found there was no cause for concern and no substance to the allegations early last month."
The commission did not respond to requests for comment on Tuesday evening.
