Every year taxpayers fork out more than $30 million to subsidise Tasmania’s three racing codes under the 2009 Racing Deed.
The twenty-year Racing Deed guarantees public funding to an industry beset by cruelty, the exploitation of animals and huge integrity issues. Just last week in NSW, shocking allegations were made by the former Greyhounds NSW Chief Vet that again paint this irredeemably cruel industry in the darkest light.
Tasmania is the only Australian jurisdiction that guarantees massive annual industry funding through a twenty-year funding agreement. It’s an extraordinarily generous arrangement for an industry with so little public support and diminishing by the day.
EMRS polling from November 2023 confirms most Tasmanians don’t support publicly subsidised cruelty towards greyhounds.
The Deed is propping up an increasingly unpopular and dying racing industry. It expires in June 2029 so there’s an excellent opportunity here to examine its ongoing impact, and its relevance in the future.
Parliament has a responsibility to examine the social, economic and animal welfare impacts of the Deed before its expiry and any government move just to renew it in secrecy. With the State lurching towards massive debt and the pressing need for more funds into health, housing and education, it is the right thing to do.
As the Greens’ MLC, I will be proud to table the petition calling for a joint select inquiry into the Deed when Council returns in August. It will be the first Greens’ petition ever tabled in the Legislative Council and I’m so glad it will be for animal justice.
On behalf of the Greens, I warmly thank and commend the individuals and organisations who are fighting to end this waste and cruelty. The e-petition is supported by the RSPCA, Dogs Home Tasmania, Let Greyhounds Run Free, Animal Liberation Tasmania, GREAT and all their supporters.
