New Ipswich greyhound racing track: When construction on Greater Brisbane Greyhound Centre will begin

The state government promises the huge new greyhound racing facility to be built in Ipswich will be a ‘game changer’ for the industry but thousands have registered their opposition to the project.

Construction on the Greater Brisbane Greyhound Centre is expected to start next year.

Construction on a new $40 million greyhound racing facility in Ipswich is still expected to start next year even though the green light for the project has yet to be officially given.

Greyhound advocates have reiterated their fierce opposition to the facility, with thousands calling for the millions in taxpayer money going towards the project to be spent elsewhere.

In 2019 the state government announced plans for the Greater Brisbane Greyhound Centre, which will be built in Purga.

The facility is expected to cost $40 million.

The $39 million needed to build the facility will come from the Racing Infrastructure Fund, where funds are obtained from tax receipts generated by betting revenue.

The centre will be located on the site of the former Swifts Football Club at the junction of the Cunningham and Centenary highways and Ipswich-Boonah Road.

A Racing Queensland spokesman said the racing body would submit its planning approvals by the end of the year with the aim of holding the first race meeting there in the first three months of 2024.

“Racing Queensland is currently progressing planning approval,” he said.

“A key component of the planning approval stage is stakeholder consultation, including the Ipswich City Council and Queensland Government, which will significantly assist in finalising the concept design.

“Construction will follow planning approval, which is expected to occur in 2022.”

It is planned to include a one-turn track, two-turn track and a straight track.

Racing Queensland is planning to hold the first race meeting at the facility in 2024.

Coalition for the Protection of Greyhounds Queensland director Anne Hendley said an industry funded study completed by the University of Technology in Sydney in 2017 found that straight tracks significantly improved the chances of a greyhound surviving the race.

She said it was not a project that had the support of the public, with more than 67,000 signing an online petition against it when the project was first announced.

The organisation tracks every greyhound killed and injured while racing in Australia and that figure for the year so far was at 104, with 13 of those happening at races in Queensland.

“There have been 890 injuries in Queensland (in 2021 so far) with 169 classed as major,” she said.

“Which is horrendous. It’s on the bends where the excessive force is put on their limbs as they’re going over 60km/hr and when there’s a group of eight of them it’s a recipe of disaster.

“The majority of deaths are as a result of leg fractures and the majority of those happen on the bends.

“The more the public becomes aware, the more we can see people are angry and disgusted by it.

“It’s a dying industry because the youngsters they’re not interested in it. The main participants seem to be over the age of 65.

A protest was staged against the new facility in February 2020.

“We do believe that the industry is dying out as the participants get older. You think $40 million could be spent elsewhere.”

A petition started by Ms Hendley has garnered 2225 signatures and it has been sponsored by Gold Coast LNP MP Sam O’Connor.

She is calling on the government to introduce a publicly available system to track greyhounds for their entire life, rather than just to the point where they are deregistered from racing.

“A major point of vulnerability for greyhounds is when they are retired and removed from state racing registries,” her petition noted.

“At this point, owners can sell or give, their dogs to a third party as a companion animal.

“Unless the new owner elects to register the greyhound as a companion animal, to all intents and purposes the greyhound does not exist and can be euthanased.”

RQ says the new facility will be a “game changer” for the industry and allow it to attract “some of the world’s richest” greyhound races.

The state’s racing body said the greyhound industry provides an economic contribution of about $140 million a year to the Brisbane and Ipswich economies, while supporting 1100 full-time jobs.

RQ said the new centre will support 1000 full-time jobs during and after construction.

“Animal care is at the heart of the centre’s design and operation,” an RQ project briefing noted.

“The GBGC will use the latest best practice standards for greyhound racing safety principles, including modern cambers and drop-on boxes.

“It will also be one of the few centres in the world with a straight track, a one-turn track, and a two-turn track to suit the size, age, running gait and athletic abilities of different greyhounds.

“By designing a new racing centre from scratch, a new standard for greyhound racing will be set in Queensland.

“Following the advice of University of Technology Sydney’s Professor David Eager, one of Australia’s leading risk management and injury prevention experts, we will set new standards for the greyhound racing industry.”

Read more stories by Lachlan McIvor here.