Britton concerned for Victorian greyhounds after election result
Champion trainer and Companions And Pets director Robert Britton was left to ponder a “scary” thought on Sunday.
That is because it appears likely there will soon be five anti-racing activists in the Victorian upper house following Labor's landslide election triumph on Saturday night.
The CAP – which campaigns for an individual's rights to own an animal and that person's desire to pursue a chosen legal activity with that animal – did not pick up a seat.
But with his party just five weeks old and in its early stages, that is not Britton's biggest worry right now.
The Lara-based trainer is nervous at the effect which five anti-racing people in Victoria's upper house could have on the sport over the next four years under a Daniel Andrews government.
The make-up of that anti-racing sentiment will likely be four Greens seats and the retention of the Animal Justice Party's seat, which will be clearer by Tuesday night, with further vote-counting results to come.
The AJP is the arch nemesis of the CAP – it has called for the end of greyhound racing because it sees the sport as being barbaric and cruel on the dogs who participate.
And Britton is worried at the anti-racing party's potential to grow after Saturday night's result from the election booths.
“The biggest red flag for us is it looks like the Greens have gone from one seat to four seats,” he told Australian Racing Greyhound.
“It looks like the Animal Justice Party might've held their seat.
“If it goes to the predictions – and there are only 20 per cent of the votes counted so far – but if it goes to those predictions, there will be five anti-racing votes in the upper house.
“Which is really, really dangerous.
“There were two up until this election. One Greens and one Animal Justice Party.
“They will be handing Daniel Andrews a list of what they want to get their agendas through.
“So I see it as being pretty scary.”
With the CAP being such a new party, its reach has not made a big impact even among the Victorian greyhound racing community.
And this is despite the AJP's extreme approach towards wanting to see greyhound racing being completely dismantled, as well as its pre-election behaviour.
The AJP signed up to Glenn Druery's “cash-for-seats” cartel, which Britton said the CAP declined on moral grounds, as he revealed to Australian Racing Greyhound.
The parties which worked with Druery leading up to the Victorian election preferenced the AJP.
But the AJP did not preference them in return, instead looking towards parties such as the Greens, Reason, Legalise Cannabis and the Victorian Socialists.
“The Animal Justice Party played the game too smart,” Britton said.
“They jumped out right at the last moment and got the preferences anyway.”
It was not a good look for the AJP, but as Britton alluded to, it did not hurt the party.
That is because the AJP is now tipped to retain its upper-house seat, with the CAP hoping to pick up a seat in four years' time.
Under this political landscape, Britton has issued a rallying cry to everyone in favour of greyhound racing in Victoria – take up the fight now or be disappointed.
That disappointment could be as a result of anti-racing political parties – such as the Greens and the Animal Justice Party – having their shared wish of seeing the sport closing down becoming a sudden reality.
“The biggest wake-up call of all time for us is that if we don't get our acts together – not just us, but all animal industries – it could be very bad for us,” Britton said.
“That's how close it could be, with five people who will have the balance of power if that happens.
“We thought our positive was that we split the Animal Justice Party vote, and we kicked them out (of the Victorian upper house).
“But as it turned out, they're saying they think they can hang on with preferences.
“Our objective was to split their vote, and we thought we did that.
“But it hasn't really been enough.”
It is not all doom and gloom for the Companions And Pets Party, though.
In fact, Britton believes “it's a given” his party will pick up a seat in the upper house by the next Victorian election.
“We definitely want to get in there – we want to get a seat,” he said.
“I don't think it's going to be that hard, but we need to get the support of all the animal industries to do that.
“I think it's a given. If we can get that support, we'll get in easily.
“We'll reflect on what we did right and what we did wrong (leading up to the 2022 election), and to plan for the future.
“We had five weeks to get our campaign together. We've got four years now.
“We just need to make sure that we've got that solid base, and we can get our message out there – not just to greyhound and horse people.”
Another positive for Britton was how well the Nationals – big supporters of greyhound racing – performed throughout regional Victoria.
The party for regional and rural Australians wrested back electorates in regional centres from independents to add three lower-house seats to the six they already had.
“The Nationals have had their best result since 1940-something,” Britton said.
“They'll be buoyant and they're nearly the major player in the Coalition now.
“And that's good because they're on our side. They're great supporters of greyhound and horse racing.
“They'll keep fighting for us, no doubt.”
Britton is also optimistic about greyhound racing's current financial position.
If wagering continues to be as strong as it has been in recent years, the industry will continue to be rewarded, with prizemoney currently at record levels across Australia.
This will make it increasingly difficult for those for want to see greyhound racing ended achieving their wishes.
“I think our industry is going really well. It's on the up,” Britton said.
“That has a lot to do with COVID. Instead of having a negative effect, it had a positive effect on gambling.
“And our turnover went through the roof. Now that COVID is over, it'll be really interesting to see if we can hold onto that gambling dollar.
“Or whether people go out and go to different entertainment options. Whether we can maintain it, or it falls.
“Our prizemoney has gone up – it's great. But it's about whether we can maintain that.
“Right through COVID, pokies weren't open, so people were sitting at home betting on the dogs and horses.
“It was astronomical the turnover. But you'd like to think a lot of those people are now converts.”
NSW will have its election day on March 25 next year.
“I think in reality the election (in Victoria) was lost before the election campaign, with Liberals changing leaders and infighting,” Britton said.
“They just didn't come across as being organised at all.
“But I've said all along, I don't care if the Liberals get in and I don't care if Labor gets in.
“My concern is a crossbench with an agenda that's got the balance of power.
“I don't follow it that much (in NSW). But it seems the Libs haven't got their act together there, going off news reports.
“That is a worry. They seem to be split between what they actually stand for.
“It's a shame we haven't had time to get a NSW party up. It will happen, but it won't be in this election.”
The Companions And Pets Party already has almost 7000 followers on Facebook.
That is an impressive effort for a political party which is just five weeks old.
But Britton says many greyhound enthusiasts simply weren't aware of the party's objectives – or that it even existed – leading up to the Victorian election.
This is something he will work hard on turning around in the coming months.
“What is interesting is I realise we haven't got our message out to the general public,” he said.
“A good example of that is the lovely lady who was handing out how-to-vote cards for the Animal Justice Party – she had three dogs there.
“So I went over and started talking to her.
“She said ‘I love animals'. And I said ‘well, do you realise the party you're in is trying to stop animal ownership?
“‘You won't be able to have those dogs if they had their way'.
“She said ‘you're kidding?' So I handed her a list of the Animal Justice Party's policies.
“By the end of the day she tore up all the AJP cards and started handing out our cards – she joined our party.”
Britton laughed about it at the time, but that moment also signalled to him the steep task ahead for the CAP, and the hurdles it needs to jump in order to win the hearts and minds of Victorian voters.
“It was the funniest thing of all time. But what I'm getting at is there are a helluva lot of people supporting them (AJP) who still don't know what they represent,” he said.
“We've got to sit down and analyse how we reach those people.”
Britton also felt let down at what he believed was a lack of support from Greyhound Racing Victoria's clubs in helping to promote the CAP's causes at its race nights leading up to the election.
Fellow top Lara-based trainer and Britton's good mate Brendan Pursell also discussed these concerns with Australian Racing Greyhound leading up to Melbourne Cup Night last week.
“I was very disappointed in the reaction from clubs,” Britton said.
“We didn't get the support we would've liked.
“I just don't think they (GRV clubs) get it. They don't get the dangers regarding what could happen quickly.”
Britton is so strong in his beliefs because he has enjoyed so much success in the US, where greyhound racing is now on its knees, as he detailed to Australian Racing Greyhound last month.
Britton's great chaser Fanta Bale was out of US dam Ucme Typhoon.
Her record haul of $1.365 million in prizemoney was only broken by She's A Pearl for Andy and Jodie Lord last month.
But in America, greyhound racing will go ahead at just two tracks in West Virginia from next year.
Anti-greyhound racing activists played a big part in dismantling the sport across the country.
Britton has warned people in the greyhound-racing community all around Australia that they must learn lessons from their sport's plight abroad – and quickly.
“I speak from experience because I was involved in the American campaign when they folded,” he said.
“And the public opinion swayed because the greyhound people in Florida didn't act – they didn't respond.
“The ‘anti' lobby had 10 years' start on them. And that swayed public opinion.
“So we've just got to get that through to our people.
“If you don't fight now, public opinion won't be balanced.
“It'll eventually keep going the wrong way.”
Very strange to somehow think the NSW LNP is better than the NSW Labor Party for greyhounds, given they were the ones that banned it in 2016….