Admit it, Mike Baird. The greyhound racing ban has been a terrible mistake

The greyhound racing ban hurts people’s lives, writes Miranda Devine. It’s not what democratic governments do. It’s not what Liberals do.

The greyhound racing ban has hurt people’s lives. It’s not what democratic governments do. It’s not what Liberals do. (Pic: Jenny Evans)

There is a ridiculous video clip going viral at the moment, of a vegan blogger breaking down in tears after seeing sheep on a ferry in New Zealand.

This grown woman, 34-year-old New York native Kristin Lajeunesse, is in great distress. She is barely able to speak as she takes the selfie video to show the world how distraught she is at this commonplace occurrence of farm animals being transported across the Cook Strait.

“Vegan cries over baa-baric treatment of sheep on ferry” was the headline from a country which sensibly has erupted in mockery of this American hysteric.

What planet does she inhabit to be so shocked to find that New Zealanders eat sheep.

You can never satisfy such people. The extreme purity of vegans and animal rights extremists has become neuroticism. It’s a recipe for mental illness. How can you possibly come to terms with what you believe is an animal holocaust every minute committed by your fellow humans?

But these are the people to which the NSW government has ransomed itself: the neurotics and hysterics of the animal equality movement, who drove the decision to shut down the greyhound industry and backed the government’s legislation through parliament.

Three months later, Premier Mike Baird and Nationals leader Troy Grant still don’t get it.

It’s not a matter of standing firm or acting tough. It’s a matter of understanding what you have done is a terrible mistake. You have messed with peoples lives.

It’s not what democratic governments do. It’s not what Liberals do.

Dubbo trainer Shayne Stiff with some of his greyhounds at his property in Dubbo in country NSW. (Pic: John Feder/The Australian)

You don’t have to have been to a dog race to recognise the authoritarian overreach of the greyhound ban, or oppose government victimisation of powerless battlers.

Under the guise of animal welfare, the ban attacks decent, law-abiding people who love their dogs and whose lives revolve around the friendship, purpose, identity, and community bonds that the working class sport of greyhound racing provides. Without greyhounds, for many, life is not worth living.

“It’s Australia’s family sport,” one greyhound owner told Sky TV’s Paul Murray in a superb broadcast from Bathurst last week, giving voice to salt of the earth Aussies whose hearts have been broken by Baird.

Yet the government has convinced itself that the greyhound furore is simply, as one senior MP told Fairfax last week, “a contest [between] News [Corp] and Macquarie Radio shock-jocks and an elected government about who runs the state.”

Grant has sent National Party members a loathsome six-page letter full of justifications and self-pity. It really has to be read to be believed.

“I now stand accused and condemned for killing an industry that was already on death row... As the leader of the NSW Nationals at all times during this debate I have shown nothing but absolute loyalty to my fellow nationals.”

Yeah right. Tell that to Katrina Hodgkinson, Chris Gulaptis and Kevin Humphries, the only Nationals MPs with the integrity to cross the floor over greyhounds, who since have been demoted, exiled and monstered by Grant and his henchmen.

NSW Deputy Premier and Nationals leader Troy Grant during a tour of Rosehill Gardens in Sydney last month. (Pic: Christopher Pearce/Getty)

He writes that he is “disappointed” and “deeply saddened” by “disunity” in the party over the greyhound issue.

He excoriates Nationals (aka federal leader Barnaby Joyce) who have “taken it upon themselves to pursue public debate and add commentary” and “wilfully fuelled inaccurate media”.

In other words, don’t defend the interests of Nationals electorates. A politician couldn’t be more out of touch.

Nationals member from Dubbo Keith Prendergast was so disgusted he responded with a letter of his own: “Disunity occurs when leaders put themselves above the interests of their party and communities...

“The National party is for creating more industries and encouraging communities not destroying them...

“I have no interests in the greyhound industry but this is not what the National Party stands for.”

You really have to wonder about Grant, an ex-Dubbo cop whose constituency has one of the highest numbers of greyhound trainers and breeders in the state.

His camaraderie with (horse) Racing NSW chief executive Peter V’landys hasn’t gone unnoticed.

There has been talk that Grant will be rolled as leader this week but insiders doubt the numbers are there, and in his blind arrogance he knows it.

Joyce and the federal party are appalled by his intransigence but they should have seen it coming long ago.

The National party in NSW long ago turned its back on its traditional constituency and has stacked its ranks with inner urban leftists and opportunists. No wonder Grant does deals with the Greens.

They’ve made Labor look like the party of freedom.

Baird has started to let slip that Grant was the instigator of the greyhound ban and hints of a compromise this week. That is what he should do, if ego permits.

But he probably thinks he can solve the problem with a few sops to the industry, like extending the ban deadline or allowing training without racing for a few years or buying his way out of trouble with bucketloads of taxpayer cash.

That won’t work.

Greyhound people don’t want compensation. They want their lives back.