Opinion: Greens-led ban on jumps racing threatens major industry

If you like a flutter and you voted for the Greens at the last election, please rethink your values and priorities, writes Peter Gleeson.

The Greens are becoming a significant political force in Australia, and their march to glory will only get stronger as more and more university-educated students become brainwashed and embrace their errant policy nonsense.

But it is older Australians – normally responsible, well-educated people who value their vote – who should hang their heads for supporting the most dangerous political party we’ve seen in this country.

It is not trendy to vote for the Greens. It is irresponsible and downright stupid to vote for a party that will send the country broke as it chases fanciful greenhouse emissions targets. They are a cancer on the Australian political landscape.

Any leader of a political party who is ashamed of the Australian flag should be deported. Yet it is other divisive and harebrained policies that will destroy the fabric of Australian life.

Let’s use the example of the Greens’ obsession with closing down the racing industries on animal welfare grounds and responsible gambling propaganda.

Last week, the South Australian government supported the Greens to outlaw jumps racing, effectively killing off the annual Oakbank festival each Easter. There are now plans by the Greens to outlaw the whip in thoroughbred racing. The ultimate aim is to ban racing altogether.

We saw how fanatical the Greens are when they cost former NSW premier Mike Baird his job in 2016, championing the banning of greyhound racing.

The ban was quickly overturned as voters, many in regional areas, turned.

You even had NSW Thoroughbreds boss Peter V’landys sticking the knife in when the decision was made, despite the fact banning horse racing was next on the Greens’ agenda.

The number of people who participate or are employed or volunteer in horseracing is estimated at between 150,000 and 200,000. At least 4.5 million people attend a race meeting each year, about a million people have a regular bet and more than 87,000 have an interest in owning a racehorse. Thoroughbred, harness and greyhound racing are in many smaller towns the glue that keeps the community together.

The racing industry pays more than $1bn in state and federal taxes. In recent years, the racing industry has devoted a share of race takings to animal welfare programs.

All of this is lost on fanatical Greens politicians.

If you like a flutter and you voted for the Greens at the last election, please rethink your values and priorities.

The Greens have a radical agenda that will change Australia irrevocably if they ever gained power.

They must be stopped.