The Shoalhaven Greyhound Club has been left reeling in the wake of NSW Premier Mike Baird’s announcement greyhound racing would be banned across the state from July 1 next year.
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The announcement was made public on Thursday after the state government considered the findings of a Special Commission into "widespread cruelty" in the industry.
Shoalhaven Greyhound Club manager Glenn Midson said the announcement was a devastating blow for the industry.
“The worst part is the way it’s all unfolded,” he said.
“They’ve based their decision on exaggerated figures and lies; the statistics haven’t been there to make the judgements that they’ve made.
“It’s disappointing because Greyhound Racing NSW has put a lot of things in place and now they don’t get the chance to prove the industry is sustainable.”
Mr Midson said it was to early to know if the decision by the state government was contestable.
“We just feel it is an unfair decision,” he said.
“I can’t find enough information at this point from the premiers office to work out even how the decision came about, I don’t know if it was voted on, if it was just the premier or who made the decision.
“This is an unfair decision for the majority of people and there’s a lot of people who depend on and have their livelihood in greyhound racing.”
Mr Midson was resolute the ban was a restriction of trade.
“It is definitely a restriction of trade whether they are a hobbyist, professional or a racing entity, be it the clubs or participants,” he said.
“People have invested millions of dollars into greyhound racing and all of a sudden they don’t get any chance to utilise their investments.”
Although it is estimated the industry generates $350 million for the state government, Mr Midson believes the figure could be much higher.
This is an unfair decision for the majority of people and there’s a lot of people who depend on and have their livelihood in greyhound racing.
- Glenn Midson
“I don’t believe all the spin-offs have been accounted for,” he said.
“Anyone who has anything to do with running a greyhound has expenses. They spend their money and contribute through money and taxes to the NSW economy and that’s just going to be taken away.
“People won’t be buying their pet meats, they won’t be travelling to race their greyhound, they won’t be buying their petrol.
“The Shoalhaven is one of the poorer electorates, 52 times a year we race greyhounds and people travel from Canberra, the Highlands, southern Sydney and the Illawarra into the district, that’s a massive [injection] of revenue.”
Mr Midson said the Shoalhaven had grown into one of the leading racing and breeding regions in Australia and suggested upward of 200 local industry participants would be impacted by the ban.
“There are so many people involved in many parts of the industry; it’s going to leave a big hole in the local economy,” Mr Midson said.
Mr Midson believes fellow racing industries also face an uncertain future.
“When it was first bantered about they may ban greyhound racing, I was told they wouldn’t stop there.
“They will want to attack harness racing and the thoroughbred industry because the main thing they are attacking the greyhounds on is the exaggerated euthanasia figures. There’s euthanasia in harness racing and horse racing that happens as well.
“They’ve targeted one racing industry and want to shut it down; the others would be very scared at this point, because it was spoken about by some political parties that once we get rid of the greyhounds the horses would be next,” he said.
