[Greens-Media] Media release - Lost opportunity: Baird-Stoner govt response to inquiry bows to greyhound racing industry

[John Kaye]

Lost opportunity: Baird-Stoner govt response to inquiry bows to greyhound racing industry

Media release: 14 October 2014

The NSW Liberal National government has condemned greyhounds to on-going animal abuse and the industry to repeated integrity scandals by failing to act on evidence presented to an Upper House inquiry held earlier this year, according to Greens NSW MP John Kaye.

The Baird-Stoner government today handed down its response to the first report produced by the cross-party inquiry, which heard evidence of widespread animal mistreatment, inadequate regulation and a dysfunctional governing body.

Greens NSW MP John Kaye said: "The Baird Government, like the committee conducting the inquiry, has been hoodwinked by the industry.

"The NSW Liberals and Nationals have given the greyhound racing industry the green light to continue their appalling animal welfare practices and serious abuses of regulatory power."

The government has rejected any widespread regulatory changes. Gaming and racing Minister Troy Grant has instead indicated he will convene a working party to investigate possible integrity reforms including the creation of a Racing Integrity Commissioner and bringing all racing bodies under the purview of ICAC:

Dr Kaye said: "The potential integrity reforms flagged by the Baird government will fail to address the inherent conflict created by one body that is both industry regulator and promoter.

"With little accountability and virtually no transparency, Greyhound Racing NSW will continue to operate well outside basic community expectations of animal welfare and integrity.

"Giving ICAC power to investigate all racing bodies in NSW will help expose and reduce corruption but given the size of the problem it is little more than a band aid on a gaping wound.

"Neither the Committee nor the Minister was prepared to tackle the problem head-on by separating the commercial and regulatory functions of the greyhound racing industry.

"ICAC cannot help with mismanagement and animal welfare abuses.

"Neither ICAC nor the proposed Racing Commissioner will be able to solve the problems created by an industry structure that embeds inherent conflicts of interest."

The government rejected a recommendation to investigate over-breeding and has signalled that it will continue to allow Greyhound Racing NSW to self-manage ongoing welfare reforms:

Dr Kaye said: "Of the thousands of greyhounds bred each year in NSW, few will make it on to the track. The remainder are killed or abandoned, with a tiny percentage lucky enough to find a home.

"By the industry's own admission, 3,000 dogs are killed each year because they are too slow or can no longer race due to injury and illness.

"Even the Committee recognised that something is wrong with an industry that breeds so many dogs that end up killed or dumped.

"By rejecting key recommendation to investigate overbreeding, the Baird Stoner government has condemned dogs in the industry to a brutal cycle of abandonment and high kill-rates.

"Asking Greyhound Racing NSW to tinker with minor welfare reforms may make the Minister sleep at night but it will do little to stop the routine killing and mistreatment of dogs.

"Both the committee and the government have failed to read changing community expectations of animal welfare.

"Allowing thousands of dogs to be killed and many more mistreated in the name of 'sport' has no place in a modern state like NSW," Dr Kaye said.

For more information: John Kaye 0407 195 455

Key recommendations from the Greens dissenting report to the Inquiry into Greyhound Racing in NSW that were ignored by the Baird Government include:

1. Replace the industry regulator Greyhound Racing NSW with two separate bodies to remove the conflict of interest posed by one body managing both commercial and regulatory functions.
2. Reduce the numbers of dogs being killed by increasing rehoming rates and tightening control over the numbers of dogs born.
3. Increase legal protections for greyhounds including legislated standards for breeding, rearing and education practices and lifetime tracking.
4. Increase transparency by mandating the collection of data on the number of greyhounds whelped, killed and injured each year.
5. Prohibit the live export of greyhounds for racing or breeding purposes

A full copy of the report can be found here<http://www.johnkaye.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/sub140326_greyhound_Dissenting-Report_final.pdf>.

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John Kaye
Greens NSW MP

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