Page 5145 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 28 November 2017
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MR RATTENBURY: The sheer lack of respect shown by those opposite, who were heard in silence, underlines the weakness of their case. Those numbers I have just read out, nobody has ever disputed. They have never been disputed. They all say, “We’ve got an unblemished animal welfare record. Just do not look at all the dogs that are euthanised track side because they are so badly injured.”
In addition to the more than 300 injuries that are recorded in the Canberra Greyhound Racing Club’s own reports for that period, the Durkin report, an independent assessment of the ACT greyhound industry, provides a list of another 42 greyhounds that never competed in another race or trial following their last race in Canberra. Thirty-one dogs are recorded as euthanised or dead from natural or unknown causes, with 17 of these deaths occurring within one or two months of the dog’s last race.
These figures are provided in the context that there is also evidence of stewards being directed to produce misleading injury records in order to reduce public backlash. There is a question about the reliability of what is on the public record, which means that we do not even know for sure how many healthy greyhounds have been euthanised or injured here in the territory.
To be clear about that, before anybody suggests that there is no evidence of it, the New South Wales special commission of inquiry revealed that Greyhound Racing New South Wales chief steward Clint Bentley directed stewards to produce these misleading injury records. I will quote the email in a moment. It is worth noting that Mr Bentley has been the steward at 10 Canberra Greyhound Racing Club days across 2014 and 2015 and one race day that I was aware of in 2016. Mr Bentley’s email is quite telling. On 30 April 2013 he says in an email to stewards:
Hi All,
As you would all be aware we have copped some pretty bad publicity recently with regard to injuries suffered by greyhounds at race meetings. It has been discussed at a recent management meeting and decided that it is in the best interests of all that we desist from providing too detailed information in our Stewards Reports with regard to injuries sustained by greyhounds. In order to do this we suggest that you no longer report injuries such as fractures or breaks but rather just as injured i.e. If a greyhound was to sustain a fractured hock we would report it as an injured hock. For those of you on-course we ask that you continue to provide accurate references to the injury on the Incapacitations Form even if no period is recommended or required if the greyhound is deceased.
Cheers
Clint Bentley
I now table that email so that it is on the public record in case any members wish to look at it themselves.
In addition to these disturbing incidents, we must also consider the fact that the ACT industry, as the minister has pointed out, is inextricably linked with the New South Wales industry. In addition to this being a key finding of the Durkin report, it is
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