Legislate an end to commercial greyhound racing in NSW
Petitioner:
Ms Lisa Ryan
| Member:
Shetty, Kobi
| No. of Signatories:
810
| Date closed:
07/01/2025
To the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly,
The gambling fuelled greyhound racing industry has always been engulfed in scandals involving animal cruelty and serious wrongdoing. While the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry’s damning June 2016 McHugh report into the Greyhound Racing Industry in NSW was a catalyst, following ABC’s exposure of live baiting and greyhound exports to China, similar scandals have festered for decades.
Despite government intervention and the publicly paid GWIC (Greyhounds Welfare Integrity Commission), the industry continues to demonstrate its inability to reform. The government continues to fail all regulation attempts while greyhounds continue to suffer and die, and millions of dollars of public money are wasted.
The industry repeatedly tells us that tracks are safe, and animal welfare is paramount, but GWIC data confirms otherwise. In 2023, NSW was the most lethal state, with 70 greyhounds killed on and off track and 4,212 injured at race meetings and trials – an average of 11 greyhounds injured daily. For the January to June 2024 period, 10 greyhounds have been killed and 2,116 injured in NSW. Most injuries include fractures to the legs, neck, spine, and skull.
Between January and June 2024, 50 GRNSW participants clocked up 97 charges, with 135 charges against 103 participants in 2023, involving drugging, dealing drugs, physical and sexual assault, racist abuse, greyhound neglect, greyhound killing, arranging to have greyhounds killed, and false statements.
The undersigned petitioners therefore ask the Legislative Assembly to legislate a date to end commercial greyhound racing in NSW.
