Premier Mike Baird has made a mistake banning greyhound racing, writes Rebecca Wilson

HAVING initially supported Mike Baird’s decision to ban greyhound racing, Rebecca Wilson says the report into the industry which has brought about its downfall is biased.

Has the government made the wrong call on the greyhounds?

I HAPPILY jumped on board the anti-greyhound bandwagon last week. I wrote a couple of paragraphs supporting NSW Premier, Mike Baird, claiming extreme cruelty to animals was unacceptable and, given this whole industry is apparently beyond reform, I was happy to wipe it.

Now I’m not so sure and nor should anyone else be. Like almost everyone in NSW, I listened to the Premier, who prides himself on credibility, and nodded sadly that he had no choice. I naively read the results of the inquiry’s report that he related to us with apparent wisdom and, like every other innocent reader in the state, couldn’t believe how bad this thing had become.

Now I know better. There are grey areas and I know there is a lot, lot more to this story than what a few animal activists have insisted we believe.

The Baird Government cannot ignore what they’ve ignored to this point: that some of the evidence was biased; some came from overseas and not this state; the witnesses included people from animal welfare lobbies (and included too few greyhound people) and that innocent, decent hard workers are about to lose absolutely everything.

I mean everything — their houses, their jobs, their local businesses, their farms. These people are not all monsters lurking about a makeshift track at dawn pulling live rabbits out of a sack.

The inquiry did not investigate in detail how many were doing that, who they were and whether anyone from the local industry should be asked if everyone was doing the wrong thing.

Evidence came from the other side, from one vet, even though other vets have since come forward and said the inquiry’s findings were plain wrong.

Has the government made the wrong call on the greyhounds?

The inquiry might have found out that here in NSW things are a bit different from a Canadian-based report on the US industry in 2005, which was part of the evidence. It might have found out that no more than a fifth of greyhound people are doing the wrong thing and nobody has been caught live baiting since the Four Corners program that brought the issue to light.

Did anyone ask the local thoroughbred owner/trainer if he or she slaughters his animals? More than 20,000 would have answered yes last year. There is badness on many doorsteps in racing and it needs to be fixed. It doesn’t need to be wiped out completely.

Instead, Mike Baird tells us he will do the politically correct thing by boning the poor man’s side of the game, ignore the thoroughbreds and insist we don’t ask any more questions.

Instead of doing the hard yards and spending a year at a Royal Commission actually getting to the bottom of this, he and his government wipe out a $330 million industry, tell everyone they get a year’s grace and then head for the hills when questions are asked.

A snapshot of the Grafton and Casino areas; or of the Taree area; or of the entire town of Dapto has not been done by Baird or anyone else. They are unaware of the trickle-down effect on families and local businesses. They’ve given us a bloke, the Natural Resources Commissioner John Keniry, to make the 12-month shutdown as seamless as possible. “Give them the compo and hope they’ll go away,” he would have no doubt been told.

So far, a total shutdown is not negotiable. Baird had no idea anyone might question the judgment once they read the horrendous report. But remember the repercussions from the Four Corners program have simply been handed up the line to an inquiry without the usual boundaries associated with a court of law.

A tape from animal activists is handed to the program, they run an award-winning documentary and 12 months later, the industry is banned. Where are the devils’ advocates, the discussions, the people who do the right thing racing greyhounds?

The report is a document we had every right to expect would be entirely and utterly fair, completely accurate, reflecting the views of everyone who knows both sides of the story. So far, in just six days, we have been handed a bucketload of holes in the stories and Baird has returned from his holiday.

This is not the lockout laws. You can see sense in them because they tried every other damned thing before they introduced them. Now, instead of trying to implement strict rules and introducing laws that make cheating impossible, an entire industry is facing a shutdown.

I rarely have a bet on the dogs. I never go to a dog track. I cannot be accused of having a vested interest. I do know, though, what is fair and just. This smacks of exactly the opposite. Shame on you, Mike Baird.

BE UPLIFTED

ANYONE who starts today in a cranky mood should look at the Channel Four UK advertising campaign for the Paralympics. It is uplifting, incredible and downright amazing. Watch it above and cheer up!

AIM UP, SWANS

HOW many more times are we going to watch the Sydney Swans on the brink of glory only to watch them blow a lead in the dying minutes of a game? We’ve seen it three times this season against Richmond, the Bulldogs and now the Hawks. Why can’t we shut out opposition teams the way the opposition manage to come screaming home with a head full of steam? This is about results that are less than a goal. The Bulldogs result was a single, heartbreaking point kicked in the last seconds.

A dejected Swans team leave the ground after losing to Hawthorn.

I’m told the Swans are still flag favourites. They cannot win a competition if they blow it like they did against Hawthorn. They must learn to shut-down games, to keep them down the right end of the ground and to stop doing this to their fans! Right now. Got it, Swannies?

MYOPIC MAROON

HAS anyone noticed that Queensland won the Origin series (easily) and we have all been told just how fabulous NSW were? Wait, there’s more, they’re going to be even more amazing next year?

For those who don’t know, I’m from the wrong (right) side of Tweed Heads. So I will say this: The New South Welshmen were flogged and managed a measly four-point win in the third game with a 13-2 penalty count in their favour. The Blues should have won by 40.

I’m not allowed to say the referees were cheering for NSW and for the survival of Origin as a concept. So I will just say we almost won the thing. How scary is that for the Blues, the NRL and 2017?