How the greyhounds got out in front eight years after Baird’s ban

Change has come to the greyhound racing industry, and its current CEO, Rob Macaulay, can be credited with much of the improvement that has saved this vital industry

On the eighth anniversary of former NSW Premier Mike Baird’s announcement shutting down greyhound racing, it is a good time to talk about how far the industry has come.

At the time, I received an email from this masthead asking for my opinion.

I replied that ‘the industry should not be banned but rather given time to clean up the industry’.

And that is exactly what has happened.

The change is clearly demonstrated by actions and numbers. I stand by my remarks as a politician, and I stand by them now as a former chairman of Greyhound Racing NSW.

When appointed Chair in 2021, I was privileged to have a front-row seat to change for the better.

Greyhound races, such as this competition in Grafton, are a vital part of regional communities.

Under former CEO Tony Mestrov, the industry had begun a huge transformation.

At the top of the list was rehoming of retired greyhounds. As I tell everyone, greyhound owners and trainers love their dogs.

My family’s association with greyhounds goes back to 1932 when my grandfather built the first enclosed greyhound track in South Australia.

GRNSW CEO boss Rob Macaulay with Ginger at Sydney Airport. Macaulay has been responsible for many positive changes in greyhound racing. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

I’ve enjoyed a long history with greyhound people and it is a most enjoyable Australian regional sport. It brings people together and is built on community spirit.

When Tony Mestrov departed, Rob Macaulay was appointed CEO.

Macaulay took on the job with an energy you rarely see. Others told me that Macaulay slept with the McHugh Report and its list of industry failings and recommendations under his pillow.

It wasn’t a joke.

He was obsessed with fast-tracking higher rehoming numbers, safer tracks and his push for a policy towards Zero Unnecessary Euthanasia of greyhounds.

Macaulay had a lot of fights early – including with some of his own staff – about the urgency to rehome dogs and make sure every decision be based on humane treatment of the animals.

It was clear to me in my time as Chair that the board backed Macaulay to get the job done, and that everything was being managed well, including financially, in the interests of the total sum of NSW participants – not any few individuals – and with a clear eye on sustainability.

Over recent years, the numbers speak for themselves. Rehoming has gone up sharply (from 415 a year at shutdown to 2,800 a year now), tracks deaths have gone down sharply (from 140 seven years ago to 22 today), and prizemoney has increased (doubled in seven years to $55 million) so that more and more people are getting into the sport.

Perhaps the success has put a bigger target on the industry from people who don’t want it to succeed – or even exist – and that Macaulay’s own head has attracted its own attention from disgruntled former staff and others with their own agendas who aren’t on board with the mission.

NSW Premier Mike Baird and Deputy Premier Troy Grant. Picture: AAP

Rob made some unpopular decisions in the best interests of the future of the industry and that has included dismissing some staff and contractors. I will put on the record anywhere at any time that they were dismissed for the right reasons.

Since my departure as Chair nine months ago, I have been watching, reading and hearing the noise from my home 600km away from Sydney. I’m in disbelief at the events of the past few months.

There are a few things that are obvious to me and others who are on the outside looking in.

It’s clear that the new Board, including new Chair Adam Casselden, are supporting the CEO. This appears to be a very well qualified board, and it would be foolish to think that they are not across everything that is going on, and with total legal and corporate oversight.

If Racing and Gaming Minister David Harris is going to sack the board, which reading between the lines is his expressed intention, then I believe it is for the simple reason that the board is backing the CEO.

I believe the main reason Harris may want Macaulay gone is fear of people in the media, but in my opinion and many others in greyhound circles I speak to, it would be a terribly unjustified and dangerous action.

The minister may have lost control and feel disrespected, and although he is obviously feeling pressure from a loud media voice, what he has signalled he is about to do will not be good for greyhound racing and its people in NSW.

When you have some in the media working with people from the Animal Justice Party, who have their own clear agenda to shut the industry down, and a minister fearful of that media, then the industry is at huge risk.

To think that the giant strides made over eight years could be completely undone by politicians in power who just want the noise to “go away” is a travesty. This industry needs people with a strong intestinal fortitude running it, including those overseeing at Macquarie Street, Sydney. It is called leadership.

I call on all state politicians in NSW who support the greyhound industry to stand up for it and not be mute.

There are almost 5,000 jobs on the line here – most in regional NSW – and the NSW Government needs to be very careful and see that they are running the state of NSW and not the media.

John Williams AM is former Chair of Greyhound Racing NSW