Page 5140 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 28 November 2017
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These people, who have the ear of the Greens and some within ACT Labor, would ban bacon and eggs for breakfast if they had the chance. The rest of the community need to think long and hard about whether that is the sort of city that they want to live in. I respect the right to be a vegan. I respect the right to support all things animal liberation. But I do not respect the right of those people to impose that way of life on the rest of the city.
My message to all the Labor members in this place is very simply this: we will not forget this day; we will not forget what you have done. When I say “we”, I mean the people of the ACT. You still have the chance to back out of this, even at this late hour. I appeal to Labor members: you have the chance to make a hero of yourself and stand up for the rights of good, honest, hardworking people. I wonder what Tim Cody thinks of what his daughter is about to do today. I wonder what the battlers from Tuggeranong think about what Mr Gentleman is about to do today, after spending so much time as gaming and racing minister actually spruiking the virtues of greyhound racing—doing so only a year and a half ago, and now standing here as virtual executioner. I am dismayed.
I am absolutely dismayed by the performance in this space from Mr Ramsay, who came to this place promising to include everyone, promising to listen to everyone, promising to engage. What a load of rubbish that turned out to be. What a load of rubbish. Mr Ramsay, as we well know, met with the Greyhound Racing Club just once and then refused to talk to them ever again—ever again—or to talk to anyone else about this whole debacle. I sense that he knows in his heart that what he is doing is blatantly wrong. I genuinely believe that Mr Ramsay, in his heart, can see that there are some major flaws here, that what we are doing is wrong. It just heightens my disappointment. We will never forget, Mr Ramsay. The people out at Dunlop, Holt and Charnwood will never forget.
What we have seen over the last year is that, despite the continual claims from the minister, greyhound racing is not out of step with the values of the community. Please let it be known when the data from this phone poll is finally tabled. Please let it be known. Of course, we have not seen the questions. One of the questions pertains to government funding for greyhound racing in the ACT, which, as we all know, no longer exists. The question itself is irrelevant.
And how about the process that we had to go through to get this precious data? What the process says to the community is that this government does not listen, does not care what people think. You have the right to disagree with the government; just do not tell anyone that or you will be accused of being out of step with the community or perhaps a wreckage or a joke. If you stand up and disagree with the government, you will be punished. This is what happens in dictatorships: if you step out of line, they will make life pretty hard for you.
This, of course, is not the only example of the government’s inability to listen to dissenting views. The government response to the industry has now become so cold and repetitive that we can already foreshadow that the minister will point to the transition support team as evidence that the government is listening. Those from the
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