BEING a leader is about making tough decisions that are ultimately for the greater good.
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Recently I had to make one of those tough decisions, and that was to support the end of greyhound racing in NSW by 1 July next year.
The decision followed a Special Commission of Inquiry report that was over a year in the making to really get to the bottom of what’s wrong in the greyhound racing industry, following shocking allegations of live baiting - using live animals to train greyhounds – in the industry.
Like many of you, I’ve enjoyed a day out and a punt at the dog track and simply banning things is not in my nature.
However after reading the report and getting my head around the depth of animal cruelty in the industry I had no other choice.
The findings of the report disgusted me: as many as 68,000 healthy greyhounds were killed over the last 12 years for not being fast enough, up to one fifth of trainers use the horrific live baiting practice and there is little appetite for the industry to change.
Since the findings have come to light, senior people within the greyhound industry have refused to accept these problems and continue to defend the way the industry has operated.
Some people are saying: “Why not give the industry another chance to reform?’’.
The former High Court Justice who conducted the inquiry was emphatic in saying that even if the industry was reform, he believed these practices would return once the harsh spotlight of commission was removed.
That’s a chance this Government was not willing to take.
What also came out in the inquiry report was that the industry was already planning a significant downsizing due to it not being economically viable in its current state.
This would have meant the closure of up to 19 regional tracks.
With our decisive action, we’re now actually able to provide government financial assistance and employment transition support to those in the industry with race tracks closing - something that would not have happened under the industry’s downsizing plan.
I strongly urge those battling with this issue to take the time to read the Commission’s report and you will understand why the government has taken this path.
You can find it at www.greyhoundracinginquiry.justice.nsw.gov.au.
NSW Deputy Premier Troy Grant
Foley flirting with folly in greyhound stance
IF Luke Foley thinks he can win an election against Premier Mike Baird by obstructing the closing down of greyhound racing then he will have about as much chance of surviving as one of those gentle dogs bred for racing but found not fast enough to compete.
There is a city/rural divide in this issue and the industry does involve many decent people.
But it has failed to heed numerous warnings about its obscene practices.
It is not the only sport, if you could call it that, where human cruelty to animals is sickening.
In Spain recently a matador was killed in a sport still defended as "art", while the running of the bulls in Pamplona annually demonstrates both human stupidity and a wanton disregard for animals, which have as much right as we do to an existence free of gratuitous horror.