Page 4921 - Week 13 - Thursday, 2 November 2017
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That this bill be agreed to in principle.
I am pleased to introduce the Racing (Greyhounds) Amendment Bill 2017 into the Assembly today. This bill addresses matters that fall within my responsibilities for racing and gaming policy. The bill will give effect to the government’s decision to end greyhound racing in the ACT and must be read in conjunction with the Domestic Animals (Racing Greyhounds) Amendment Bill 2017, which will shortly be introduced by the Minister for Transport and City Services.
Together, the two amendment bills provide for greyhound racing and trialling in the ACT to cease from 30 April 2018. The greyhound industry transition task force will accept applications for assistance until 30 June and will be able to provide support packages with funding until 30 September in the same year. The ownership, breeding and training of greyhounds in the ACT for racing outside this jurisdiction will be allowed to continue but only on the basis that it is at no cost to the ACT community and complies with strict animal welfare standards.
The government has been clear and consistent in this decision since the outcome of the election. At its core the decision to end the greyhound racing industry is about protecting animal welfare. The McHugh report published on 16 June 2016 provided an extensive and thorough analysis of the greyhound racing industry in New South Wales. It was conducted over a period of 16 months with a dedicated team of staff, legal expertise and wide powers to interview witnesses under oath and to compel the production of documents. The McHugh report identified an extensive range of serious animal welfare issues, including its observation that:
… the greyhound racing industry has been exposed as an industry that: has implicitly condoned as well as caused, the unnecessary deaths of tens of thousands of healthy greyhounds; has failed to demonstrate that in the future it will be able to reduce the deaths of healthy greyhounds to levels the community could tolerate; has engaged in the barbaric practice of live baiting; has caused and will continue to cause injuries to greyhounds that range from minor to catastrophic;
The McHugh report identified a litany of concerns for such practices as: live baiting—using live animals for training greyhounds, for example, by tying them to a mechanical lure while greyhounds are released to pursue and catch them; live blooding—feeding live animals to greyhounds to prime them prior to racing and coursing meetings; wastage—mass slaughter of young and older greyhounds bred for the purpose of greyhound racing which are subsequently destroyed either prior to being named or raced or on retirement from racing; and injury, death and euthanasia, and rehoming—McHugh noted a poor record in New South Wales of finding alternative homes for greyhounds at the end of their racing careers or when they are otherwise unable to race.
The government and the industry across the border have both acknowledged that the McHugh report documents failures to protect animal welfare. In speaking on the industry there, the now New South Wales Deputy Premier, John Barilaro, said in relation to the decision to ban the industry:
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