Dr WOODRUFF (Franklin – Leader of the Greens) – I thank Ms Johnston, independent member for Clark, for bringing this important matter on today. It is unfortunate that the Racing minister, Ms Howlett, started off by saying that all people who are concerned about greyhounds are doing is attacking this industry. I think Ms Johnston would agree that what we are actually attacking is the failure of the regulatory bodies for this industry. First and foremost, we have the Office of Racing Integrity and Tasracing. They both do different parts of this work.
The Greens have had some very productive recent conversations with the Racing minister and I thank her for that and we will be approaching this racing regulations bill in good faith, but fundamentally we are with the majority of Tasmanians, the 75 per cent of Tasmanians, who want to end the cruelty that is still occurring on a regular basis in this industry. They are cruel and intolerable conditions that greyhounds live in, with concrete floors like were alleged to be found on Mr Heawood’s property. Mr Heawood, who is a Tasmanian greyhound breeder, owner and trainer, was discarding greyhounds for free via Gumtree without undertaking the mandatory rehoming rules and was reported to have inside kennels which had bare concrete, no bedding, terrible conditions, and signs of dogs chewing the beds that were there. There is no doubt, this evidence cannot be denied; these continuing examples of the cruel conditions greyhounds are living in, exist. It is not reasonable for the minister to say that it is not true. It is true.
I thank Animal Liberation Tasmania. I thank the animal advocates – the greyhound lovers – who continue for years and years to do the job that Tasmania’s regulatory bodies are not doing, which is to wipe out the cruel practices which are still occurring on a regular basis in the industry. We know. The evidence is there. What Anthony Bullock did; the examples of greyhounds like Zipping Princess, being cast aside on Gumtree without the support when we have a state where there is not traceability, where there is not lifetime tracking of greyhounds. There is only a notional tracking through the industry.
Greyhounds have to be tracked from the moment of birth to the moment of death. What we have here is an industry which is based on a huge amount of wastage. Puppies born that do not survive because they are not used to race; they are wastage to the industry. Dog lives lost at birth, but also at the other end, when they have left training. Despite the fact that they are meant to be a cared for and they are meant to go through a process, we know, the evidence shows time and again, they are being found flogging them off on Gumtree. Or as appears to be occurring at the Greyhound Adoption Program (GAP), they are being euthanised.
We are incredibly concerned at what is happening at the GAP throughput policy. We know that the new policy of March 2023 is endorsing a higher rate of euthanasia. We want to know, is this formally adopted? How many greyhounds have been euthanised since 1 October 2023 when the acting manager of GAP took over. A person who, in her own right, had links to the greyhound industry and was stood down for doping charges in October 2020. This is the person that the government put to manage the greyhound programme. Not the kind-hearted woman who was there beforehand.
We have a lot of problems with the way Tasracing has wiped things under the carpet in the past. The new Act will not solve the problem, especially given Tasracing’s comments. It is convinced that it is on top of cruel practices, but it manifestly is not. We are with the 62 per cent majority of Tasmanians who oppose the greyhound racing industry, and the 75 per cent who are opposed to funding $6 million to the industry.
