2016-10-11
Ms PENNICUIK (Southern Metropolitan) — Sadly yet again we have seen the safety and welfare of animals put behind money and profits. Yesterday, like so many Australians, I was disappointed and sickened when the New South Wales Premier, under pressure from some backbenchers, the Labor Party, the greyhound and gambling industries and the tabloid press, caved in and said he will overturn the decision to end greyhound racing in New South Wales.
That was a good decision. It was the right decision based on the evidence of the McHugh special commission of inquiry, which documented in great detail the widespread cruelty practised in greyhound race in New South Wales and across Australia.
The McHugh report estimates that over the last 12 years 97 000 greyhounds were bred and at least 50 per cent to 70 per cent of these dogs were deliberately killed simply because they never were or no longer were capable of being competitive. That means that up to 68 000 dogs were killed in New South Wales in the last 12 years . A 2015 report by the Victorian racing integrity commission estimated that 4000 greyhounds are killed in Victoria every year — that is, 48 000 in 12 years. Together with New South Wales that makes 116 000 greyhounds killed in the last 12 years in Victoria and New South Wales, all for the sake of a bet.
As my New South Wales Greens colleague Mehreen Faruqi, MLC, wrote:
'The sheer scale of animal suffering and death puts greyhound racing into a league of its own. The simple fact is that it cannot survive without the deaths of thousands of dogs.'
It should be ended across Australia.