As the "widespread investigation into the alleged betting activities of leading Sydney jockey James McDonald continues," the Victorian government has "moved swiftly to appeal to federal authorities" for Racing Integrity Commissioner Sal Perna to have access to telecommunication records again, according to Patrick Bartley of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. While New South Wales investigators "sift through hundreds of documents related to the McDonald case, state and federal attorney-generals are set to clash over the powers that were taken away" from Perna last year. The Victorian Labor government maintained that "integrity was the key issue facing all three racing codes and accordingly appointed Perna the state's racing integrity commissioner" in '10. However, in a move that "mystified the gambling and racing industries," the federal government revoked Perna's access to telecom records in '15. Perna's access to telephone records "has been pivotal to many investigations in the past and the removal of this right to access the records has left him largely impotent." Without access to records, Perna must rely on either the person who is the telco account holder to "obtain their own records and pass them over, or a law enforcement agency, such as Victoria Police," to use its powers under a memorandum of understanding with Perna. Government and racing officials believe that these two avenues to the information are not workable and are "hopelessly cumbersome for an investigation." Victorian attorney general and Racing Minister Martin Pakula said that the federal government's decision to deny Perna the "access he requires" to fulfill his role as integrity commissioner was "absurd." Pakula: "It was an absurd decision for the federal government to take away the racing integrity commissioner's access to this material and it remains absurd. I've asked the commonwealth Attorney-General to reverse that decision -- to no avail so far. ... The use of telco data forms a critical part of any investigation" (SMH, 11/17).
