Tasmanian Labor has confirmed it believes racing greyhounds deserve no better life than one of exploitation, injury and often early death.
Josh Willie’s Labor Party is no different from South Australia’s where the Malinauskas Labor Government has ignored clear evidence of cruelty and backed in the industry, even after it failed to meet key animal welfare recommendations from a previous inquiry into the industry.
Worse still, so eager was the SA Labor Government to get behind the gambling-fuelled exploitation of sentient animals, they announced ongoing support for the industry before a Parliamentary inquiry, established in response to an 11000-signature petition, had finished its work.
Labor’s Dean Winter is crowing about this lifeline thrown to a dying industry on the mainland. Even so, we know the position he has forced the party to take on this industry does not have full support in Labor’s party room.
While not all Labor MPs support greyhound racing in private conversations, they are complicit in not pushing back against Dean Winter’s unpopular, unethical stance on the treatment of dogs.
Labor here and in South Australia is captured and compromised by the gambling industry.
As long as they support greyhound racing, Labor can never be taken seriously on animal welfare.
The Greens and clear-eyed independents, who recognise this is a question of animal rights, are much more aligned with public opinion on this issue than Tasmanian Labor. They are totally out of step with the times.
