The ACT's greyhound racing fraternity could face the territory government's ban on the sport as early as March next year, leaked Cabinet documents show.
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While the territory government has promised to end the sport in Canberra from July next year, a Cabinet briefing and associated draft reforms leaked to the Opposition show the changes could take effect from February 28 next year.
The promised transition phase would still apply until the June 30 deadline, consistent with the government's election pledge, though it is unclear if any affected greyhound owners have applied for the $1 million transition package.
But it is understood the full package has not yet been presented to Cabinet, and Racing Minister Gordon Ramsay's spokeswoman said a decision had not yet been made on the specific commencement date.
Opposition gaming spokesman Mark Parton said the documents showed people in the greyhound industry "should be devastated" by the news the government "will terminate their livelihood four months ahead of time".
But he said he understood the six month grace period would still apply, despite the ban taking effect from March 1, and he would be seeking an "urgent briefing" from government once the bills were made public.
The documents, marked "Sensitive: Cabinet", were due to be presented to a Cabinet meeting on October 16 this year, with introduction to the Legislative Assembly planned for next Thursday, but have not yet gone before Cabinet.
While the legislative package includes two bills, The Canberra Times has seen only one of those bills and the Cabinet brief.
The documents show the bill "expressly prohibits the racing or trialling of greyhounds in the ACT" irrespective of whether it involves gambling or not, and that "other amendments remove all the previously existing legislative authorisation for greyhound racing in the ACT".
It will also remove the Canberra Greyhound Racing Club as the "controlling body" for the sport in Canberra and specifically prohibit the breeding of greyhounds in the ACT for racing in other jurisdictions.
A spokeswoman for Racing Minister Gordon Ramsay said the government's position had not changed and the ban would take place "before" June 30.
That was despite the government's election pledge on the issue showing it would start "from" that date, and Mr Ramsay telling the Assembly it would take place "by" the same date during a speech in August.
She also encouraged anyone affected by the ban to contact the transition taskforce for help via: greyhoundtaskforce@act.gov.au.
