Former Victorian racing integrity commissioner Sean Carroll has been thrust under the spotlight in his new Tasmanian role after allegations in that state’s parliament that he offered a prominent greyhound trainer $300,000 to leave the industry.
Carroll was accused during Thursday night’s sitting of parliament of approaching licensed trainer Anthony Bullock on multiple occasions regarding the government’s greyhound voluntary exit scheme and claiming he had “hundreds of thousands of dollars” available for him if he closed down his business.
Bullock is Tasmania’s premier greyhound trainer, having won the training premiership 17 times.
Carroll, when contacted by this masthead on Friday, denied the allegations and stood by his actions, but declined to comment further. He had previously denied the allegations at a parliamentary hearing earlier this month.
Carroll told the hearing he had held discussions with individuals at greyhound tracks but would not reveal the confidential nature of those conversations.
A former police officer, Carroll served as the head of integrity and security at Cricket Australia from 2011 until 2021, and was appointed Tasmania’s first racing integrity commissioner in December 2024 after being poached from his Victorian government role.
The new role handed him “extensive powers to set integrity and animal welfare standards and comprehensive investigatory functions across all three codes of racing in Tasmania – harness, thoroughbred, and greyhound”.
But the state’s shadow racing minister, Labor MP Dean Winter, questioned under parliamentary privilege whether Carroll was acting outside his role after the Tasmanian government committed to end greyhound racing in the state by June 30, 2029. Labor opposes the ban Bill, which is yet to be passed.
During his Thursday night speech, Winter referenced a statutory declaration provided by Bullock involving his alleged interactions with Carroll.
“According to Mr Bullock’s sworn declaration, the commissioner approached him on multiple occasions regarding the voluntary exit scheme,” Winter told parliament.
“Mr Bullock outlines that the commissioner said he had ‘hundreds of thousands of dollars’ available for him to leave the industry, later referring to a cheque beginning with a ‘three’, and ultimately indicated that $300,000 was all that he was prepared to offer.
“Mr Bullock never submitted an expression of interest. He says he never sought an exit package.
“Yet, according to the statutory declaration, he was repeatedly approached and presented with financial figures.
“If those allegations are correct, they raise serious questions. We are talking about a scheme where, by the commissioner’s own evidence, key arrangements remained unfinished, including the governing deed and final funding pool.
“Yet the commissioner admits financial figures were being discussed with industry participants.”
Bullock’s dogs started in 1725 races last year, he trained 161 winners and won $650,628 in prizemoney.
In 2023, he was banned for life by the Tasmanian Office of Racing Integrity (ORI) – before Carroll’s tenure – on a racing charge of “possessing an animal part capable of being used as bait, quarry or a lure”. Investigators found a pademelon tail on his property.
Bullock denied the charge and the ban was overturned by the Tasmanian Racing Appeal Board.
He declined to comment when contacted by this masthead on Friday.
Winter told parliament that allegations against Carroll, first raised at a greyhound transition committee hearing on October 9, were “deeply concerning”.
“The racing integrity commissioner position was established by the parliament to independently oversee integrity, compliance and disciplinary matters across the racing industry,” Winter said.
“The position was not created to negotiate payments for participants to leave the industry. This is why this is a central question and so important.
“How can the person responsible for enforcing the rules and exercising disciplinary powers over licence-holders also be engaging in discussions about financial incentives to leave the industry? Even the perception of conflicts of interest is a serious risk to public confidence.”
Winter also questioned why Carroll had appeared alongside government ministers in media releases promoting government policy on greyhounds when he was an “independent statutory officer”.
The greyhound transition committee consists of six sitting politicians, including Winter, one Liberal, one Green and three independents.
Carroll fronted the October 9 hearing during which he was grilled by Winter over his involvement in the expressions-of-interest scheme.
“During the hearing, the commissioner was forced to concede that the deed governing the voluntary exit scheme was still being drafted, and there was no finalised funding pool, and that participants did not necessarily need to submit an expression of interest to be considered under the scheme. Those admissions are extraordinary.”
Winter said the matters warranted further explanation.
“Given members of the joint select committee have had a heavy focus on integrity matters throughout their time in the parliament, I look forward to their forensic interrogation of this matter,” he told parliament.
“This is not about whether members support or oppose the phase-out of greyhound racing. It’s about process, it’s about governance, and it’s about whether legal power has been exercised in a matter consistent with the legislation.”
Cranbourne dogs return
While the fight is on over the future of greyhound racing in Tasmania, the sport was given a boost in Melbourne on Wednesday when it was announced racing would return to Cranbourne on November 25.
The venue has undergone a $9.5 million upgrade – funded by the state government, Greyhound Racing Victoria and the Cranbourne Greyhound Racing Club – after it was closed down due to safety concerns in 2022.
“The racing industry plays a vital role in the state’s economy, and our investment will back more jobs,” Racing Minister Anthony Carbines said.
Carbines said the Victorian greyhound racing industry generated more than $853.9 million in economic benefit each year and helped sustain close to 4800 full-time equivalent jobs.
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