Industry won’t lose faith as Baird’s ban enters Parliament

GREYHOUND racing participants in NSW are not going to take the proposed ban of their sport lying down, but industry insiders are worried they are not receiving a fair go, after went before Parliament on Wednesday morning.

After a turbulent few weeks NSW Premier Mike Baird's shock declaration that greyhound racing would be banned from July 1, 2017, finally reached Parliament with a heated debate taking place. Parliament is currently on a break but will resume at 2.30pm on Wednesday afternoon.

The Greyhound Racing Prohibition Bill 2016 was put before the NSW Upper House, but it is still unclear as to when a final vote will take place, but party, with the backing of the Greens, remain confident they have enough numbers to push the legislation through.

But NSW Greyhound Breeders, Owners and Trainers Association CEO said the industry would continue to fight the legislation on all front, including a Supreme Court challenge.

“This is an important issue – it needs to be dealt with in the appropriate, regular manner which involves proper Parliamentary debate and we are concerned that this is not going to be the case,” Scott said, “We continue to ask for a fair go for our industry.

“Our case is also now before the Courts and our argument shows that the McHugh Report is not credible and that this report formed the basis of the Premier's decision, so it is important that this issue is not raced through Parliament without due consideration.”

Scott, who also heads the NSW Greyhound Racing Industry , the steering tasked with fighting the ban, met with Premier Mike Baird and Deputy Premier Troy Grant on Tuesday morning and detailed four key guarantees the industry could make to ensure the sport rises to meet government and community expectations if it were allowed to continue.

The guarantees were:

– A total life cycle management plan for all greyhounds born into the industry, including every greyhound which is unable to race as well as retired dogs.

– A controlled breeding program which would immediately limit the amount of greyhounds being bred for racing within NSW to 2000 annually.

– A zero tolerance attitude towards animal cruelty which would result in life time bans for any participants found guilty of acts such as .

– Providing strict standards to ensure the safest racing environment as a means of eliminating avoidable injury.

Scott subsequently refuted comments made by Troy Grant at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon which slammed the for allegedly opposing a quota system when it was originally proposed by Greyhound 's Joint Working Group in early 2016.

“We were shocked to hear Troy Grant state yesterday that the GBOTA has previously not supported a proposed quota,” Scott said.

“This is absolutely incorrect and there is evidence in a submission to the Joint Working Group Draft Report Implementing in the NSW Greyhound Racing Industry from earlier this year that makes it clear that GBOTA did in fact support a quota system.

“We supported the quota system then and we continue to support a quota system.

“We are committed to a plan that will ensure we are world leaders in regulation and , that meets the expectations of the community and can still operate a viable and sustainable industry.”

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dogem53
dogem53
7 years ago

let fists swing I say at that meeting. bet many go for TROY GRANT after declaring he likes belting old men….lol. the famous LEIGH MATHEWS of AFL FOOTBALL FAME(THE REAL GAME MIND YOU)  was quoted as saying one day to his BRISBANE TEAM who were about to meet the powerful(yes they were at that time)ESSENDON TEAM, that many believed would wipe MATHEWS mob off the oval, THAT IF IT BLEEDS, IT CAN BE KILLED….and they did win. the moral of the ditty is, for us, that as long as the NSW GOVERNMENT IS ALIVE,WE ALSO CAN KILL IT………just have to… Read more »

Deborah555
Deborah555
7 years ago

Apparently there is a no compensation clause so much for their argument they would have to compensate the horse people- just pass some urgent legislation that says no compensation how easy is that?  Baird and his buffoon are seriously out of control.

dogem53
dogem53
7 years ago

Deborah555 sneaky bastwards these two. saw that DEB.

need the trio of HADLEY/LATHAM/JONES getting the cowards on tv for a solid debate………what you think?

Deborah555
Deborah555
7 years ago

dogem53 Deborah555  a vote of no confidence and an early election might be more beneficial for NSW.

John Tracey
John Tracey
7 years ago

The alliance group has asked people to write to Parliamentarians. I am happy to do this. This whole matter will end in tears for the Government  so my concern is personal I accepted the reviews in good faith and put in a lot of volunteer work as an information officer and sent in a lot of submissions on the grounds that it was a genuine inquiry. It matters little whether the act was written by the Government or received from the Stalinist division of the Greens or that it stalinist in nature the Act would have taken forever to construct… Read more »

John Tracey
John Tracey
7 years ago

dogem53 Deborah555 I think that everyone that can should write a submission and get onto members of parliament. This whole business is a three ringed circus but we need to go further than use our time and others for our own amusement although it is hard not to be amused by it all. You only need to write a couple of lines in a reasonable way. If you write briefly you are sure to be read.

John Tracey
John Tracey
7 years ago

dogem53 If your sending a submission in do not use capital letters because they will cull it and throw it in the bin. I have to reduce my spit to no more than 50 to 100 words myself. I will use satire and humour a bit like you. Brenton is going through the right motions if he does not see the Premier and Grant  they can say he had the chance to see them and did not take it. Are you posting these contrary views to annoy me, I am giving you the benefit of acting in good faith so… Read more »

John Tracey
John Tracey
7 years ago

dogem53 If your sending a submission in do not use capital letters because they will cull it and throw it in the bin. I have to reduce my spit to no more than 50 to 100 words myself. I will use satire and humour a bit like you. Brenton is going through the right motions if he does not see the Premier and Grant  they can say he had the chance to see them and did not take it. Are you posting these contrary views to annoy me, I am giving you the benefit of acting in good faith so what… Read more »

John Tracey
John Tracey
7 years ago

Deborah555 Thats right but I think that adequate compensation has to be paid for damages for them breaking the inter code agreement, The lawyers will sort this out but ti is going to cost a lot of money to progress. The act is designed to cost greyhound racing multi millions to progress. We had to sort out the Greyhound Act 2002 and spend millions doing it and it was nowhere near as complex as this act. I was told at the time that the 2002 act was a public service service pay back for the severe cut backs which were… Read more »

dogem53
dogem53
7 years ago

John Tracey dogem53 john. of course he is. no disputing that.

I think you are mis-reading my intent. I am saying,it is rather strange for someone like BRENTON to do what he has and faithfully believe he is being heard and treated with due respect in his approach,but the next movement we hear is they are still going ahead with pushing the bill through.

I see that as a smack in BRENTONS EYE. explain how else an outsider would view that john.

dogem53
dogem53
7 years ago

Are you posting these contrary views to annoy me, I am giving you the benefit of acting in good faith so what do you think that you are achieving

JOHN……..please explain. I am totally lost where this come from.

Deborah555
Deborah555
7 years ago

John Tracey dogem53 Deborah555  Don’t worry John I have been running an email submission campaign from my office here for the last three weeks. Have a reply from almost everyone so they must be concerned.

John Tracey
John Tracey
7 years ago

dogem53 Sorry mate I am a bit overheated and I don’t want to to repeat your post but you should not put scorn on the Head negotiator for the greyhounds by saying that people are laughing at him. I took exception at the Animal Welfare lady doing something similar and also I have had a row with Bob W over the same matter (We fight all the times  but neither of us worry about it) You always need to respect the position. I support Brenton both personally and his position as well. My wife keeps telling me that I am… Read more »

dogem53
dogem53
7 years ago

John Tracey dogem53 you overheated john, nah, cannot imagine that…..lol if it was me saying change tactics, maybe I should slow down and say what I really mean. Brenton is under huge pressure I would think,so me saying that would not help,but trust me,i am on his side and have always said the legislative vote is only the beginning of the fight and GOTBA have the best man ,apart from BRENTON, advising. john,it was reported today that a vote was taken and the bill was defeated 21-13. I tried watching it live,but missed the first part. if it was defeated why… Read more »

Deborah555
Deborah555
7 years ago

dogem53 John Tracey  Dogem-  Brenton is playing the game beautifully- he is willing to talk and negotiate and show just what a good sport he is- they ignore him, who looks bad, not Brenton them. You are too honest and open and passionate that has its place but when you are dealing with utter bastards you have to use a whole heap of tactics and Brenton has them all under control. I hope John will not mind me saying this but what he is trying to say is that any criticism of Brenton can be used by the opposition. If you… Read more »

John Tracey
John Tracey
7 years ago

dogem53 John Tracey No problems, I am overheated so I will not watch or read parliament today but I will look at the transcript tomorrow. What you have alerted me to is that people don’t know how the greyhound alliance is set up and funded so i am asking for a speaker at the country clubs conference to address all the country clubs on 23rd August 2016. Brenton is the public face behind the team which includes some of the top professional operators in the country. The group was formed partly by an indicative motion at the GBOTA annual general meeting… Read more »

Hugh_
Hugh_
7 years ago

dogem53 Deborah555 I respect Jones, he always seems ready to change his view in the light of new facts.  Hadley I don’t know much about.  But Latham is an intellectually dishonest individual.  He is the king of the strawman argument and outrageous hyperbole.  He asserts that his opponents hold a position that they don’t, and then argues against that.  I was listening to him and Hadley talk about the greyhound ban on the Jones/Latham sky news program yesterday he asserts that the opponents of greyhound racing want animals to have equal rights to humans, and then goes on a tirade from… Read more »