NSW Greyhound Racing Industry takes matters to the Supreme Court

THE Industry announced on that the first legal battle to challenge the report of the Special Commission of has commenced.

The challenge comes after NSW Premier announced earlier this month that the government plans to outlaw the sport within the state as of July 1, 2017, following 80 recommendations handed down by the head of the Special Commission of Inquiry, Justice Michael McHugh.

The greyhound racing industry has filed proceedings in the NSW Supreme Court, seeking a declaration that the report is invalid and that it holds no legal effect, with the industry's legal team headed by the former Commonwealth Solicitor General, David Bennett AC QC.

The challenge has arisen after several parts of the report have proven to be factually incorrect, with many industry leaders believing it has shown a strong anti-racing bias.

NSW Greyhound Breeders Owners and Trainers Association said the industry is determined to fight the ban all the way.

“The Premier's decision to ban greyhound racing was based on only one of the 80 recommendations made in the Michael McHugh AC QC Report,” said Brenton Scott.

“The recommendations and the report are being challenged on a number of grounds including the reliance of the Commissioner on the concept of a “social licence to operate” which we believe is inappropriate and unreasonable given that it has been described, amongst other things, as difficult if not impossible to measure.

“The challenge also indicates that the figures relied upon by the Commissioner on ‘wastage' were erroneous.

“The idea that a Government can ban a perfectly lawful racing industry, which operates in every state in Australia and in overseas countries with legal systems the same as Australia's, on the basis that it has lost some form of ‘intangible and unwritten' social licence would be a very worrying development to many in the community.

“This is particularly so when there are no known legal criteria for the issuing and continuation of a ‘social licence' and where respected authors have described it as an ‘intangible construct'. “Our industry has widely identified the many factual errors in the Report in addition to the legal errors identified by our legal counsel.”

The legal challenges comes after the NSW Greyhound Racing Industry Alliance submitted a comprehensive and detailed rebuttal of the report to Mike Baird on July 21.

Some of the factual inaccuracies which have so far arisen from the report includes that between 50-70 per cent of greyhounds are killed for being too slow, while it has since been revealed that 55.4 per cent remain with owners/trainers or are re-homed, 25 per cent die from natural causes, 12.7 per cent are humanely euthanised due to injury or illness, with just 6.9 per cent being unnecessarily, humanely euthanised.

The Alliance has also challenged the report which dismissed the industry's economic and social contributions to NSW, enforcing that greyhound racing contributes over $335 million gross to the state and more than $30 million in state taxes. The sport also sustains more than 1700 full time jobs, more than 1000 of those being in regional areas.

The report also quoted a man named Ernie to support its euthanasia estimates, however this has since been put in the spotlight after it was revealed that Ernie is an American who gave his statement more than 10 years ago in a Canadian report by the University of Toronto.

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Peter Bell
Peter Bell
7 years ago

John Tracey:

Given you are a career public servant and you might have run into the odd Paul Newson in your time, in your opinion or the law, can Paul Newson be charged with being a white ant as such ? Is it illegal in any way ? All his tactics are straight out of the Greys2k textbook and here he is on twitter beating his chest to none other than greys2k ? 

https://twitter.com/newsonpg/status/756451466064171008 

Deborah555
Deborah555
7 years ago

No SAV MarionPurnell Deborah555  beautiful response No SAV.

dogem53
dogem53
7 years ago

Peter Bell PETER. with you. shows how weak our own government is to allow this sort of double dipping to exist,but hey,we are talking about the politics and the gurus called politicians that run this country. I for one cannot see how this can occur. such blatant RIPPING OFF of a position,and abusing that position for SELF GAIN. now that was you or me, we would be gonners. take NEWSON sending POLICE around to a member of GREYHOUND DATA for ALLEGEDLY THREATENING NEWSONS LIFE. laughable if it wasn’t true,but that smutty smirk draws the attention of many,as its the smirk… Read more »

dogem53
dogem53
7 years ago

No SAV MarionPurnell Deborah555 AND NO SAV, hard effort ruined by an imposter within.

would not natter one iota what we did, BAIRD/NEWSON want it shut down. seems a wasted effort because everything done,said,achieved is JOKINGLY LAUGHED OUT between that crew and there devious counterparts GREY2K.

they will do all they can to shut it down.

wonder WHATS IN IT FOR THEM?

SEEMS they don’t do anything unless there is something in it for them. wonder what that is?

maybe a GREY2K cap? a T-SHIRT?BAG OF GOODIES?

interesting view point hey. what is in it for them?

dogem53
dogem53
7 years ago

THIS IS THE SUPPOSED STRUCTURE OF GRNSW. CEO………PAUL NEWSON. now is it not the role of ANY CEO to get the business to perform at max profit and performance? I will answer that for you. YES. OK THEN,WHY HASN’T HE GONE BY NOW? even he admits the cause is lost so he has failed. he says that himself. THE STAFF UNDER HIM ON THAT CHART STILL ARE THERE? SO IF HE HAS FAILED HAVEN’T THEY ALSO FAILED IN THE DUTIES? seems it is not that cut and dry. rumors are they have there hands tied. not happy, but ethics says… Read more »

Deborah555
Deborah555
7 years ago

dogem53  I can assure you the lawyers have that base covered.. Actually if I was a former CEO ( and I have already said what a good job I thought he was doing) and his  chief steward who I would describe as ” highly efficient and intelligent, honourable and for lack of a better description “hard but fair”.  Who were both doing their jobs according to their job descriptions- I  would be asking some lawyer questions  about defamation, loss of potential earnings, compensation and such matters. Yes that’s what I would be doing. If I was Newson I might be seeking a… Read more »

dogem53
dogem53
7 years ago

WHAT IS A ”SOCIAL LICENCE”……….. it appears it has its origins in mining. there never IS paper to accompany that licence,or a wall mount pictorial of it,or one that can be stored in a strong box…….it cannot even be handed down from one to another…..yes,yes, I hear you all. its a business speak. utilised by many in business for the reasons why they have a business,in particular something THAT MAY UPSET THE COMMUNITY(like mining/gas fracking etc;) but it is free spirit as long as the community accept it. whatever it is….lol. so if one person says we LOSE OUR SOCIAL… Read more »

John Tracey
John Tracey
7 years ago

Peter Bell My experience directly in the public service was in the Federal sphere and I was involved in the reforms which removed the Public service board and replaced the public service board with administrative law panels;  codes of conduct, and Ministerial discretions being handed delegated to public servants and statutory boards. The first dispute after the reforms saw a department head at the current administrator of GRNSW or maybe a higher grade being given an instrument similar to the current one and locking it in a draw and going on extended sick leave. He told me that the situation… Read more »

John Tracey
John Tracey
7 years ago

Excuse my indulgence again but in fairness I need to bring to the top a great question that Peter Bell asked me on this site.(see below) Peter Bell My experience directly in the public service was in the Federal sphere and I was involved in the reforms which removed the Public service board and replaced the public service board with administrative law panels;  codes of conduct, and Ministerial discretions being handed delegated to public servants and statutory boards. The first dispute after the reforms saw a department head at the current administrator of GRNSW or maybe a higher grade being given… Read more »

John Tracey
John Tracey
7 years ago

dogem53 Thanks for the prompt, Pearson’s reply is also very interesting. You should get Saturday’s Australian Paper, the greyhound article confirms a lot of what you are saying. The article has been updated on the internet to subscriber only, so I will respect the copy right.

Just to answer your question on the social licence, I think that this prompt on the Happiness indicator in Butan comes the closest. There are many other items on Global.Greyhound Racing probably would be the highest of racing on this scale as they have the most active participants (under normal conditions).

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/dec/01/bhutan-wealth-happiness-counts

dogem53
dogem53
7 years ago

QUOTE FROM JOHN TRACEY….. ”This whole business is a mess of giant proportions and has the potential to become the greatest and most expensive mess in Australian politics even rivalling the former Greek conspiracy case which now holds the record. I was involved in the prosecution of the above and was warned with others that we were being over zealous. Sage advice as they say “what the wise man knows in the beginning the fool finds out in the end!.” JOHN TRACEY…….a great saying hey? it seems though JOHN,we,the supposed fools, have found out of the wrongs, but alas,will be… Read more »

John Tracey
John Tracey
7 years ago

dogem53 Just as a fail safe the quote I refer to applies to the Government, the Public Servants and Administrators The greyhound community as citizens are entitled to expect that the Government works for them.

The ICAC stats overtime break up’s jncluding all regulatory forms like the police,Health, councils, Racing and Parliament and previously racing show the referral rates. Greyhound Racing has the top rating around the ICAC inquiry and other break Ups spike around their inquiry times.

If you have reported matters in good faith you should not feel guilty of anything.

John Tracey
John Tracey
7 years ago

dogem53 Great Video we need to send it around.

impact
impact
7 years ago

THIS STORY COMES OUT SUNDAY AT 8pm YET AGAIN THE ABC SOME HOW GETS THE PHOTOS AND STORY READ THE STORY ITS BAD BUT WHY WASNT HIS KENNELS INSPECTED BY THE DODGY PAUL NEWSON POINT 1 WHY DIDNT PAUL NEWSON HAVE THE KENNELS INSPECTED BY GRNSW OFFICER LOOKS LIKE THERE IS NO KENNELS AT ALL IN THE SHED 2. THIS BLOKE WAS CAUGHT AUGUST 2015 A YR AGO AMD THEN CHARGED MARCH THIS YEAR BUT NOTHING REPORTED ON GRNSW WEBSITE 3.THE GUY HAS HAD ONE DOG RACE IN 2015 SAME DOG ONLY 4 TIMES SO OTHER 4 DOGS WERE PETS… Read more »

Deborah555
Deborah555
7 years ago

dogem53 Deborah555  This is just unbelievable getting a free holiday  on this issue, has just disgusted me even more and I already thought Baird “was so low he could parachute out of a snake’s arse” . What a disgrace to use the suffering of those boys to get a free trip to the NT. The racing officials were not just suspended they were sacked after doing nothing wrong after a video release why isn’t he calling for the immediate suspension pending further enquires into what appeared to be a group of sadists torturing defenceless kids. Two boys sitting in a cell smaller… Read more »

Deborah555
Deborah555
7 years ago

It is alleged that Newson “mummy’s sooky sooky poo bum boy” was frightened by some-one at Greyhound Data- when the police went around and found a small group of computer whizz  kids eating pizza they were not exactly convinced that an AVO would be required. What a gutless little wonder this man is.

John Tracey
John Tracey
7 years ago

Deborah555 MarionPurnell The horses have a lot more tracks and a lot less races and they survive. The country politicians that you are asking to cross the floor are the politicians mainly with community clubs in their areas. You need think outside the box. Reducing greyhound activity is not the answer this is the sure way to the grave. The sport needs to become diverse in recreational and other canine amenity on racetracks including primitive camping sites, amenity for people with adopted greyhounds, memorial funeral facilities including other domestic dogs etc. We have been trying to get up these type of… Read more »

Deborah555
Deborah555
7 years ago

dogem53 No SAV DaveSampson75  Yes No SAV it gets a bit boring out here in the bush pinging rabbits with the .22  and pinging internet trolls ( to be honest I only found out what an internet troll was a year or so ago) is a nice humane alternative and cheaper than ammo bills. Plus you don’t need a licence for your computer. Yes I have discovered it is great fun just the thing for elderly dog trainers with a lot  of time on their hands. Troll Targeting the new Sport of Kings.

lone widow
lone widow
7 years ago

dogem53 MarionPurnell Deborah555  I raced dogs for many years at Harold Park, so yes one turn tracks are the safest and my favourite. I agree bend starts are the blight of greyhound racing (injury and interference wise).  I also agree we need a new track design to minimize injuries. In my experience injuries are not necessarily  down to one or two turns but depend on the radius of the turns.  Most tracks throughout Australia have aprox 50 mtr radius turns (disastrous when travelling at 65 kph).  In my experience (again) most injuries could be eliminated if a 72mtr radius turn on all… Read more »