Kiwis are brave enough to ban greyhound racing. Why aren’t we?

Those bloody Kiwis. There they go again, showing us the way.

What makes them so smart and progressive, making us of the “West Island” look like we are still in the dark ages?

In just about every field you can think of from racial politics to anti-vilification laws that have bite, to a refusal to countenance insane energy policies, to leading the way on marriage-equality laws, they have been the “light on the hill” to all those on this side of the ditch who can point to them and say, “This, this is how it’s done.”

Their latest move is to shut down greyhound racing.

“This is not a decision that is taken lightly, but is ultimately driven by protecting the welfare of racing dogs,” the Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters said last week. “Despite significant progress made by the greyhound racing industry in recent years, the percentage of dogs being injured remains persistently high, and the time has come to make a call in the best interest of the animals ... The time has come to do the right thing. It’s a very significant day.”

Bingo.

Greyhound racing continues in NSW despite being banned in most countries around the world.Credit: Anna Warr

And yes, of course those in NZ who have profited from an industry that – historically and contemporaneously – has seen appalling animal cruelty, have protested loudly. But the rest of the population? They recognise the truth of what Peters has said – it’s time. In a poll run by stuff.co.nz in the wake of the announcement, 84 per cent of respondents were in favour the ban.

Welcome to the 21st century – they’re standing in it!

And now compare that to the situation in NSW.

When then NSW Premier Mike Baird tried doing exactly what Peters did, nudging a decade ago – in the process pointing out the bleeding obvious, that it is a barbaric sport, involving systemic cruelty and built on gambling losses – the blowback pretty much turned Baird into live bait himself, as the feral dogs of outrage pursued him.

One more time for those who still support greyhound racing – let’s review the whole thing.

What preceded Baird’s announcement was the devastating Four Corners report by Caro Meldrum-Hanna, which exposed the systemic brutality, the use of live bait and the shocking fate of dogs when they slowed down. Baird moved quickly, standing down the board of Greyhound Racing NSW, and appointing a Special Commission of Inquiry into the Greyhound Racing Industry by Michael McHugh AC QC.

Winston Peters has announced a ban on greyhound racing in New Zealand.Credit: Getty Images

That report confirmed “systemic animal cruelty”, and found that “of the 97,783 greyhounds bred in NSW in the previous 12 years, evidence suggested somewhere between 48,891 and 68,448 dogs were killed because they were considered ‘unsuitable or too slow for racing’”.

Baird shut it down.

But even then, his move was not revolutionary, but simply brought us into line with other parts of the world where the 21st century had also fully taken root, and racing dogs had been stopped. Back then, there were still holdouts elsewhere, including Macau, Florida and New Zealand, but it was banned in Macau in 2018, while the greyhound racing capital of the US, Florida, finally banned the whole thing from New Year’s Day 2021, joining Texas and Alabama. Right now, only West Virginia still allows it. And as discussed, New Zealand is now joining them.

Spot a pattern, here?

In Australia, only the ACT has banned it, while it is at least on the wane in other states. But only here in NSW has it actually gone the other way!

Yes, folks, it’s true.

While the rest of the world has turned away in horror, it was Baird’s successor as Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, who did a world-class, full twirly-gig in the massive and disgraceful pike position, and committed $500,000 to promote “the world’s richest greyhound race” the “Million Dollar Chase” at Wentworth Park. And that was not all. Including regional grants, the government committed more than $30 million of our bucks to greyhound racing.

Looking back, it still takes the breath away. Barely without blinking, a NSW government of the same political stripe went from the view that a sport was so egregiously appalling that it had to be shut down, to the view it actually had to be propped up! All before a compliant press that barely raised a murmur, present company excepted.

And yes, there were many reforms, and many claims that the whole thing had been cleaned up. Many wonderful people came forward to take greyhounds as pets – and I equally accept that within the industry there actually are decent people. But nothing could change the central, problematic dynamic: while nothing was too good for the fast dogs that were bred, there was no more compelling reason to look after the slow dogs, as there was to look after slow horses.

And so the atrocities have gone on, even as in 2021 the NSW government announced a “new funding model”, which the then Minister for Better Regulation – no, seriously – Kevin Anderson, said was in order to free up $25 million “which can be reinvested in facilities and prizemoney to secure the future of the industry.“

Just about none of all the major welfare recommendations of the McHugh report and later Greyhound Industry Reform Panel reports had been implemented.

All that effort, all that earnest inquiry to get to the bottom of it, and the end result appeared to be, “Nah, bugger it, business as usual.”

Would the Minns Government change things?

The least we can say is, “not yet”. So far, they have displayed as much appetite to take on that powerful lobby group as they have to take on the wretched pokies mob – which is to say no appetite at all.

Look, in the history of NSW it is possible, I suppose, that – as previously noted in this space – there has been a more craven collapse to a powerful lobby group, with successive governments going from good policy to bad policy in a heartbeat, all while holding its nose and averting its eyes from the disaster before it. But, for the life of me, I can’t think of one. Can you?

But there is hope.

Earlier this year, Alex Brittan, the former chief veterinary officer at Greyhound Racing NSW – who you think would know a fair bit about it – wrote a damning letter to racing bosses claiming greyhound deaths were being systematically hidden from the public, that the treatment of racing greyhounds was barbaric, and that the industry was unsustainable. Most of that was widely known to those on the inside, but this was the courageous chief veterinary officer of the whole industry saying it, and providing documentary proof. Most of the slow dogs that survived, he said, have been left to “live out their miserable post-racing lives in industrial kennels”.

There was more, much more, including the doggies being fed osteoporosis drugs illegally, which hardens their bones in a way that makes them more likely to break and shatter, while millions of dollars were spent on trying to make racing tracks safer since 2017 have failed.

It was so comprehensive that not even the NSW Government could ignore it, and they announced the appointment of Lea Drake to lead a review into the whole industry in her capacity as acting commissioner of the NSW Greyhound Welfare and Integrity Commission (GWIC).

Brittan has given, I am reliably informed, devastating evidence, as have others.

The report will be handed down in the middle of next year. If it is more of the same, let’s see if this government can grow a backbone and finally do what has to be done.

We, the people, are watching, Premier Minns and Minister for Gaming and Racing David Harris.

This is on your watch. If that report is as devastating as I am told it will be, you have no choice.

Shut it down. Peters is right. It’s time.

This column was amended on December 20 to reflect that the NSW government provided funding of $500,00 to promote the inaugural Million Dollar Chase. This was a one-off payment, not an annual one. Also, the NSW government has committed $30 million, not $50 million, in conditional capital grants to improve racetracks in the state.