Baird’s blanket greyhound ban is democracy gone to the dogs

CRIMINALS get a chance at parole and redemption, but apparently greyhound racing doesn’t. If this is democracy, it’s gone to the dogs.

Give it a year: Give the greyhound industry a chance to start proving prove it can come clean. Picture: Troy Snook

OPINION

IF this is democracy as I know it, it’s gone to the dogs.

I’ve been in two minds about greyhound racing for many years, but Premier Mike Baird’s move to ban it in NSW from July next year, rather than give it a chance to reform, is a step too far.

I felt physically ill when I watched the Four Corners story which blew the lid off Australia’s greyhound racing industry with shocking cases of mistreatment which preceded Baird’s ban.

To say the litany of sins showcased on screens — graphic scenes of live baiting, appalling death rates, mass graves — was troubling is an understatement.

But equally troubling is Baird’s decree — a ban with no opportunity for redemption or debate.

It’s not democracy as I know it.

The autocratic shut down of an industry and a whole conversation is an overreach of what our elected officials are there to do.

It leaves us in a place where criminals get a chance for rehabilitation and redemption, but an entire industry gets no shot at the same.

A place where the stakeholders whose livelihoods depend on what’s in a report don’t have time to read and respond to it before someone decides it’s game over, and closes the debate.

Baird blindsided not only the greyhound industry, but his own political cohorts with his ban, as is evidenced by the mounting opposition to it in National Party ranks alone.

Former High Court judge Michael McHugh’s report to the government, sparked by the live baiting scandal, is undoubtedly sickening reading. It’s also had holes picked in it for inaccuracies, and out of date and irrelevant information which demand further exploration before a $350 million industry is terminated.

The industry is now making a last-ditch chance to save itself, with full page newspaper ads pledging concrete reforms and a plea to delay the ban for three years.

The Daily Telegraph is also campaigning for the industry to be given another chance.

Unapologetic: Mike Baird is adamant a ban must happen. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Full disclosure: I’m an animal lover. I abhor cruelty. I’m currently dog-sitting my favourite four-legged friend in the world, an Italian Greyhound named Chilli. And I’d do anything to protect him.

I’m also a country girl, a punter, and my family owned shares in racing greyhounds in another life. I’m also a realist.

And in a small country town, population 11,000, I saw first-hand how the greyhound industry was a livelihood for some, a vital hobby for others, and whether you were right in it, or just a casual observer, a glue which held together a vital part of country community life.

Opponents of greyhound racing say the industry is rotten to the core, beyond saving itself, and they may be right.

Supporters say the bad apples — and they now belatedly admit, after years of ignoring the elephant in the room that they do exist — can be weeded out. And should be. Permanently.

I say: just give them a year.

A year to put the onus back on the industry to prove they are serious about saving themselves. A year to respond to the massive wake-up call and begin regaining the trust of the community.

A year to weed out old blood, old alliances and bring in independent government-appointed regulators and stewards with an open mind and no historical ties to the industry or arguments of ‘we’ve always done it this way’. Send them into the kennels and to the races, week after week.

Demonstrators protest the proposed ban tin the wake of the shutdown announcement. Picture: AAP/Paul Miller

Watch the ‘good elements’ we hear so much about save their livelihood.

Come back after that year with demonstrable evidence reform is happening. Then review again.

If in three years it’s not still moving forward, go ahead with your ban, Mike.

If, as the industry argues, the bad elements are a minority, give the good people for whom it’s a way of life and now realise turning a blind eye threatens their future a chance to speak up and fix it.

It’s amazing what people are capable of when their backs are to the wall.

Opponents argue the rot is so deep, and the cruelty so unacceptable the industry doesn’t deserve another chance. They may well be right.

But at least in the end, there will be no room for argument. The rot will be gone, or it won’t.

And that will be on the industry stakeholders themselves. Not Mike Baird.

The NSW Special Commission of Inquiry report contains a second option: a recommended pathway to reform.

Baird has been given a further blueprint from the industry itself, in full-page newspaper ads offering iron-clad guarantees of what will happen if they can just be given the chance to fight.

They commit to managing the life cycle of greyhounds post racing; a controlled breeding program restricting numbers to 2000 dogs bred for racing annually, zero tolerance for animal cruelty, lifetime bans for anyone that breaks that tolerance, and a safer racing environment.

That’s acceptable to most people.

If it’s not acceptable to our government, you have to wonder where democracy, debate and discussion end, and dictatorial directives begin.

Originally published as Baird’s blanket greyhound ban is democracy gone to the dogs