New South Wales Premier Mike Baird’s decision to ban greyhound racing, the only reasonable option in light of findings from the special inquiry, has been welcomed by animal welfare advocates and caring individuals across the country.
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The NSW industry was given an opportunity to reform, but instead hid from scrutiny. After the live baiting scandal, their industry was caught exporting greyhounds to Macau, a place of horror for any greyhound. It epitomised everything outside community expectations of greyhound racing.
During Budget Estimates, then-Racing Minister Adam Brooks talked up Tasmania’s robust and contemporary greyhound racing industry. He spoke of an industry with animal welfare at its heart.
In reality, Mr Brooks’ statements aren’t worth the paper his ministerial charter was written on.
The notion of an animal as property, treated however its owner chooses, isn’t reflected in contemporary animal welfare laws. It’s not socially acceptable, and it has no place in any sustainable industry.
Each year in Tasmania, over 250 greyhounds are reported as euthanised because they don’t run fast enough to make money. Anecdotally, the number is much higher, with allegations that greyhound puppies are often disposed of without notification, without record and even without a name.
This practice, known as “wastage”, is an issue that enrages Tasmanians of all political colours.
Almost 3000 Tasmanians signed a petition to ban greyhound racing in Tasmania, tabled in Parliament in June. Greyhound racing has lost whatever creditability and community support it had.
The state government props up greyhound racing to the tune of about $5 million a year. This is a strong indicator the industry is neither economically viable nor sustainable.
TasRacing’s announcement of plans for a new greyhound adoption centre, while welcome, must be queried from both a financial and cultural perspective.
The Tasmanian industry is subsidised by government and is financially unsustainable. It’s difficult to understand how the adoption facility could be afforded.
A cynic may view the announcement, coming a week after the NSW ban, as more than a little convenient.
TasRacing has said its adoption strategy has been on the cards for some time. But no mention of it was made when we asked questions in GBE hearings last December, or at budget estimates hearings in June.
Distaste with greyhound racing is growing, and it will need an enormous effort on the part of industry to prove public concerns unfounded.
Compassionate Tasmanians would’ve be disheartened to hear the Hodgman government so emphatically state they wouldn’t consider banning the greyhound racing industry.
The government’s rapid response, distancing themselves from their NSW Liberal colleagues, was bitterly disappointing. There are a growing number of Tasmanians who won’t accept the greyhound industry status quo and who want to see leadership from their elected representatives.
The industry is desperately trying to cling onto a social license that has slipped far out of its grasp. Tasmanians are left with a government that not only lacks the courage to ban greyhound racing, but props it up with public funds.
Andrea Dawkins, Bass Greens MHA and Animal Welfare spokesperson
