Wednesday, 16 October 2024

Motions

Greyhound racing

Georgie PURCELL (Northern Victoria) (10:46): I move:

That this house:

(1) notes that:

(a) only greyhounds that are euthanised by on-track veterinarians or die during a race are recorded as racing fatalities by Greyhound Racing Victoria (GRV);

(b) GRV does not break down euthanasia data by reason in its annual report;

(c) in 2022–23, the industry reported 2688 retired greyhounds as rehomed of which 1082 were initially rehomed through the Greyhound Adoption Program (GAP);

(d) in 2022–23, 103 positive swabs for a prohibited substance were recorded, an increase from the previous year;

(2) calls on the government to include further detail in the GRV annual report, including:

(a) all deaths that occur as a result of, and within 10 days of, an injury sustained at any race event or trial reported as racing-related fatalities and included with the on-track fatality toll;

(b) reason for euthanasia of all dogs that die off track, including in training;

(c) a breakdown of non-GAP rehoming figures to include how many dogs are:

(i) retained as pets by registered participants;

(ii) rehomed as pets by registered participants to non-registered members of the public;

(iii) accepted by another rehoming or research agency;

(iv) secondarily rehomed by volunteers after being adopted out by GAP or a participant;

(v) sent interstate or overseas through Racing 2 Rehome or other means;

(d) how many dogs test positive for each type of prohibited substance; and

(3) further calls on the government to consider measures to reduce the use of prohibited substances including the immediacy of hearings and outcomes.

Each week I stand in this place and update the chamber on dogs that have being killed racing in Victoria, and every week without fail that number climbs. I wrote parts of this speech ahead of time, which means that I had to check that the figures were still accurate by the time I stood on my feet today. As is often the case, they were not. At 5:45 pm last night while sitting in the chamber I was notified that Gossips had broken his leg and was killed at Healesville. So far 39 dogs have been killed on tracks this year in Victoria. When Call Me Artie broke his leg and was killed in August, Victoria had already exceeded the death toll recorded for the whole of last year. In fact most dogs that race in Australia die right here in Victoria. With a national death toll of 105 dogs, we are shamefully leading by 18 of them. In May Shima Shadow won the Geelong cup in a race that the media described as ‘brilliant’. This particular race had a payday of $75,000. After not winning for some time, it was, as the industry described, Shima’s emergence from the shadows, but days later greyhound advocates noticed his status had quietly changed on the industry’s reporting database known at FastTrack. He was now listed as deceased. What followed were a series of back-and-forth emails from my office to Greyhound Racing Victoria (GRV). Eventually they admitted that Shima sustained an injury in a training accident that led to his euthanasia.

In another email they claimed that, despite occurring in training, the death was not racing related. When my office questioned this the return email attempted to explain that in their opinion his fatality was not racing related because Shima Shadow was not racing on race day when he injured himself. The only way for this to be interpreted is that there is one set of greyhound racing deaths that are viewed in front of cameras and therefore must be acknowledged, but the other, larger set that happen behind closed doors just do not have to be. If it was not captured on video, according to GRV, it just did not happen.

Buried in Greyhound Racing Victoria’s annual report – a separate figure to the on-track death toll under the category ‘euthanasia’ for the 2022–23 financial year – the number 382 is printed, 382 dogs just like Shima Shadow. If, say, Shima died on impact at the Geelong cup, his death would be counted in this year’s toll, but all that needs to happen to avoid that is a trainer taking his injured body home and then to an offsite vet clinic the very next day. This is how the industry keeps its death toll down. This is why a 10-day period, at a minimum, of mandatory inclusion in the overall death toll must be adopted.

On Monday another story on greyhound racing ran in the Guardian that perfectly sums up why this motion must be supported today. A vet clinic accidentally sent an email to the greyhound rehoming group Greyt Greys Rescue that was meant for an industry trainer. It contained evidence that this trainer had brought his one-year-old greyhound in with a minor leg injury and demanded that they be euthanised. The clinic notes read, ‘Owner not interested in taking X-rays or attempting possible repair.’

Had this email mistake not occurred, the story of this dog would be known only as a number, one of hundreds of dogs that are euthanised away from the track each and every year – a life that is so meaningless to the industry that death does not even warrant a reason. It makes you wonder how many out of the 382 greyhounds euthanised in Victoria last year took their final breath at the hands of a vet who did not want to kill them. At least it makes me wonder.

And this is not an isolated incident. In September the Victorian Racing Tribunal (VRT) found a registered participant had a greyhound unnecessarily euthanised after multiple requests at separate clinics. After noticing no signs of ill health, St Albans Vet Clinic offered a medical examination that was refused by the trainer. The vet later told a tribunal that the greyhound did not appear injured. No effort had been made to rehome them. In 2022 another trainer was found guilty of euthanising nine healthy dogs between the years of 2016 and 2019. He had lied to GRV, claiming all the dogs had been retired to himself as pets. Stewards only discovered the dogs were dead during kennel inspections almost two years later.

These are just the cases that we know about. Without the changes I am proposing today, greyhounds can and will continue to be euthanised under the guise of internal rehoming. In July the former chief vet of Greyhound Racing NSW Dr Alex Brittan revealed harrowing allegations of cruelty in a report where he alleged that there are vets known by the industry who will willingly euthanise high numbers of greyhounds. The report names two corrupt vets who it says are responsible for half the euthanasia in New South Wales. The report details the need for clear and unequivocal advice to vets detailing how to respond if and when a participant requests euthanasia of a racing greyhound. At least New South Wales had the decency to announce an independent inquiry into greyhound racing in their state, something Greyhound Racing Victoria and this government still refuse to do.

Just this week my office received an anonymous letter from someone who I can only assume recently exited the industry, and it is something that happens often. It reads:

… the deaths published are nowhere near the correct numbers … All clubs have been told by the stewards not to use dogs on tracks unless they can control pain.

Otherwise the stewards send them home with the owner to then take them to the vet the next day and get them euthanised. Because GRV do not want you to know about the number of greyhounds being killed. We would only be getting about 25 per cent of the real number. The letter continues:

I have seen so many that break their legs and have seizures on the tracks because the whole greyhound industry is riddled with drugs. The trainers do not care about the welfare of the dogs. All they care about is the money that they win on the punt. The stewards protect the big trainers and deal with it all in-house.

This is self-regulation at its very finest. In the letter it is also alleged that the GRV’s integrity board recently covered up the death of up to 77 greyhounds after they starved to death at one single property. My office has reached out to substantiate these claims, as we have countless times over the past few years.

One of the reasons euthanasia is so high is because greyhound breeders have no limit at all. Desperate to train the fastest dog, they produce countless litters, selecting only some to eventually train. The industry is breeding roughly six times – six times – more puppies than their rehoming program, the Greyhound Adoption Program known as GAP, has the capacity to rehome. Trainers are literally pleading with volunteer rescue groups to pick up the slack, quoting a current waitlist to get into the industry program of more than 11 months. Each day they keep a dog they consider useless they are losing money, so dogs are either kept in harrowing conditions or they are killed, seen as nothing more than broken slot machines.

My office alone has rehomed at least five dogs in the time that I have been in Parliament. One greyhound named Ernie came to us from a trainer who was desperate. He had run out of options. He reached out to my staff as a last resort, and I think that demonstrates how severe this problem is. Worried that he would be euthanised, we drove out to Melton to pick him up and bring him into foster care until he was eventually adopted by a loving family. As happy as the outcome was, I am the very first to admit that this method of rehoming is not appropriate, and it is certainly not captured in the GRV annual report. In fact the only details they give are GAP and non-GAP, and what we know from this omission is that in the last financial year the industry claimed that 2688 greyhounds were rehomed, with less than half of those being rehomed through GAP. We recently found out through the Minister for Racing that on average GAP will physically take back into its care approximately 200 greyhounds previously adopted through the program every single year. What happens to the dogs that are not successful GAP adoptions matters, and so this motion seeks to break down rehoming data to capture the dogs being passed on to industry family members, those retained as pets, those taken in by our incredible volunteer-run groups and importantly those exported interstate or overseas, often to be illegally raced.

Currently the annual report also tells readers how many dogs have tested positive for a prohibited substance. For the last reporting period it was 103 positive samples, an increase from the previous year. But only a small sample of dogs are tested, so when over 100 of them are testing positive to an illegal substance, it should be alarming to us. And of course the kinds of drugs that are showing up on these tests are omitted from the report too. To find that out you must open and search individual Victorian Racing Tribunal hearings, held sometimes over a year after the original test was taken. The annual report does, however, provide an excuse for the rise in doping:

The sport of greyhound racing has not been immune to cost of living pressures being experienced by broader society, which has contributed to an increase in positive swab outcomes.

What they mean here is ‘Not only should we not be blamed that dogs are being illegally drugged in the hundreds, but we should feel sorry for the people doing it because they are only trying to make some money.’ Caffeine, ventolin used in asthma puffers, arsenic, steroids, methamphetamines, testosterone and every pain medication you can think of are just some of the drugs trainers are experimenting with to make their dogs run faster, and they are doing it, frankly, because they can. It is almost as though the excuses for drugging dogs are being handed to participants by the industry themselves. I quote from reports:

How the dogs came to test positive is a mystery to you and to the Stewards.

We accept that you have no notion as to what caused these two positive swabs in such a short time.

Hopefully the mystery cause of the present offences will not recur.

Feeding greyhounds discarded meat from the horseracing industry was the most likely cause of a positive meloxicam swab.

The arsenic had been ingested by the dog chewing a fence post.

Ventolin can be transmitted to greyhounds by persons who use ventolin inhalers near them.

The opioids may well have been absorbed by each of the dogs whilst Mr Kubik was feeding them.

It might sound satirical, but these are literal quotes from VRT decisions, and the fines imposed are inconsequential when compared to the prize money a trainer can make for racing their dogs at unnatural speeds. The work we do in my office to uncover greyhound deaths is only possible because there is an entire team of greyhound advocates who do it full-time on a volunteer basis. The Coalition for the Protection of Greyhounds spend hours every week monitoring the various databases that contain fragmented data on greyhounds and watching the same videos of dogs snapping their legs and backs repeatedly. CPG are painstakingly putting the pieces together to provide the only true account of greyhound racing in Victoria, but these dogs are more than just statistics, they are loving unique animals that just want to be adored, just like your dog at home. Yet under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1986 and the soon-to-be animal care and protection bill, they are not treated as such. Instead, they are exempt from any protection at all in those acts that is afforded to every other breed of dog. This allows for the open killing spree that is the greyhound racing industry, simply because they are written in our legislation to be less than dogs.

I want to share with you a personal story to put a name and a life behind the number. When I got elected and advertised roles in my office, the first application I got was from Frankie Gamble. Frankie was a greyhound. His mum Kelly wanted to be my office manager, and as it goes, they were a package deal. Each year that followed the team and Frankie’s other friends would gather for his birthday. We would celebrate not just Frankie’s survival from the industry but the countless other dogs that had been saved by his own advocacy. When someone met Frankie, you did not need to say a word to convince them of how special these dogs are. He did it all by himself. His life was his message. Sadly, over the last few months my team watched as Frankie grew tired and as Kelly cared for his deteriorating health, and on Monday 7 October, the day before his 12th birthday, she made the decision for him to finally, peacefully rest. We spent the weekend before visiting him to say our final goodbyes. The constant rotation of the Frankie fan club members appearing with his favourite treats and their own rescued greyhounds was a testament to just how loved this old boy was. It was a testament to how all greyhounds should be treated and how they each deserve to leave this world.

It is not lost on me that much of this speech features the very words of the greyhound racing industry and its participants. Whether it be on FastTrack or the VRT or from the mouths of former trainers, the truth is out there. With this motion I am simply asking for it to be compiled in the one place, for public accountability to not be the job of people who would never dream of racing a greyhound. This motion does not end the greyhound racing industry. It merely asks for it to be transparent. It asks for honesty on the deaths that occur at the industry’s hands. If against all sense you somehow support greyhound racing, then I would at least expect you to believe there is nothing to fear in GRV telling the truth. And for those of us who are adamantly opposed to it, you already know that the calls for accountability and transparency have been a long time coming.

So I dedicate this motion to Frankie Gamble and to every greyhound before him, to the greyhounds I have met that were born into greed but instead found love, those that were forced to race and those that never made the cut, and to the countless dogs that have been killed or discarded by an industry that refuses to acknowledge them. I commend it to the house.

Michael GALEA (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (11:07): I rise to speak on the motion which has been put forward by Ms Purcell today, and in doing so I am happy to indicate that I will be speaking in support of this motion. When it comes to improving animal welfare, transparency is one of the most important tools we have. At the outset I would like to acknowledge Ms Purcell’s passion for this subject, which we all very much well know, but I would also like to take a brief moment to reflect on someone who became a friend of many of us in this place, and that is Frankie Gamble. I do not remember when I first met Frankie, when I saw this great big lump of grey coming down the hall – instantly affectionate, instantly friendly – and I was very privileged to have known him for a short while. We were all very happy and grateful to Kelly for bringing him into many of our lives here in this place, and we will certainly miss his presence in these halls.

I do want to talk today about this motion and what it sets out to achieve in the context of what I said at the outset, which is coming from that standing point of transparency being crucial. The reason I am so happy to speak in favour of it is because this is a motion that fundamentally is seeking more data and better, clearer data. Through that data we will be able to have the facts that can help to inform future policymaking decisions, as is the case in many areas of public policy but as is so particularly profound and so particularly important when it comes to animal welfare.

The greyhound racing industry in Victoria is indeed fairly large. It has significant revenue and it employs many people. That is an important thing to note, but that must be noted in the context of animal welfare being the most central consideration above all others. When it comes to the data that is supplied, I do note that there is already some considerable data provided by the Greyhound Racing Victoria body, GRV, in its annual report, and where this motion seeks to expand on that, that is to be welcomed. The report will include aspects such as race injuries, fatalities, euthanasia, rehoming and other key animal welfare data. At the crux of what I perceive this motion to be seeking to achieve is that drive to further improve what is reported in that report and expand the type of data reported, which is only going to lead to better and, most importantly, fairer outcomes for our greyhound friends.

Commencing with this year’s annual report, for 2023–24, GRV I understand will already be increasing the detail in its reporting by providing a breakdown of reasons for euthanasia of registered Victorian greyhounds and publishing a separate figure for deaths attributed to illness, injury or natural causes. Since 2015 this government has worked with GRV to continually improve the animal welfare outcomes in the industry, and this has resulted in a 95 per cent increase in the number of greyhounds being rehomed annually, an 89 per cent drop in the number of racing greyhounds that are euthanised and a more than 47 per cent drop in the rates of fatal injury in the Victorian greyhound races in the past five years. These are all stats to be celebrated, but they are not to be complacent about. There is much more to be done.

Over the past four years total injuries in Victorian greyhound races have dropped by more than 8 per cent, down from 34½ injuries per thousand starters to 31.66. Last racing season more than 92 per cent of all racing injuries were classified as non-serious by the officiating veterinarian, and those injuries that were classified as serious represent 0.2 per cent of all starters, which is a figure that is also down year on year. All instances of euthanasia of GRV-registered greyhounds by a vet are reviewed. Any noncompliance with the rules regarding euthanasia is investigated by the integrity unit, charges are laid for breaches and participants are prosecuted before the independent Victorian Racing Tribunal.

A very important part of this discussion is rehoming, and I note that Ms Purcell made a number of comments about the Greyhound Adoption Program as well. It is a very, very good opportunity for people to rehome a greyhound. Certainly it is fair to say that the industry has much more of a role to play, which it should be playing as the one responsible for creating the situation where greyhounds need to be adopted. I think it is only entirely reasonable that they take that responsibility in doing much more to facilitate that rehoming. Nevertheless the GRV’s Greyhound Adoption Program found new homes for more than 1000 greyhounds, again, last year. Over 2500 greyhounds are rehomed annually by the GAP, other third-party adoption agencies or participants in total.

I also understand that the GAP has been running a successful pet prison program at Tarrengower Prison in Maldon, where more than 600 greyhounds have been prepared for adoption by the inmates there, who take responsibility for feeding and exercising the greyhounds and teaching them basic obedience skills. GAP provides the food and veterinary care for the greyhounds in the program and supports the women with the required training. The program fundamentally, therefore, is a win–win, as it helps get greyhounds ready for adoption and helps them find a new home. At the same time it allows prisoners to spend time with dogs and learn valuable skills before their release.

As it happens, I actually have had the chance to have some conversations with someone, a woman who was an inmate at Tarrengower Prison a fair while ago now, and for a long time this particular prison has been running a number of animal-related programs, whether it be greyhound adoption or other support programs where they bring animals in, giving benefit, most importantly, to the animals but of course also providing those activities, those training opportunities for inmates as well. This particular inmate who I spoke to was of an age where she was not required to participate in any of these programs, being in her 70s, but was actually very excited to take part in them anyway, being a vet nurse in her earlier life. I know from conversations with her – and obviously we can have a whole conversation about corrections separately – that prison can be a fairly isolating space, but I know for this particular inmate the ability to participate in a program the likes of which we are discussing with the GAP here was one of the most profoundly beneficial things for her in there. It made such a difference, naturally, to her rehabilitation prospects but also to her working towards an achievable goal, and for that particular inmate, having the opportunity to work with animals was indeed a very, very special thing. As well as the statistics, which clearly are vast and which show this program supports greyhound adoption, it is important to reflect on the personal stories and the benefits and impacts that those stories, those instances, can have on those people.

We have as a government done a number of reviews and reforms. There have been two inquiries into Victorian greyhound racing since 2015, one conducted by the racing integrity commissioner and the other by the chief veterinary officer. And it is my understanding that 67 of the 68 recommendations across those reviews in aggregate have been implemented, which has been a great measure to significantly strengthen animal welfare protection throughout the industry and has indeed been a great measure towards the improved statistics which I referred to earlier.

We have also overhauled aspects of the industry’s governing structure and regulatory oversight, and this includes reforms that strengthened the racing integrity commissioner’s powers of inquiry and also reforms that established the Victorian Racing Integrity Board and the Victorian Racing Tribunal, the VRT. Governance arrangements for GRV itself have also been completely overhauled, including a completely new board and management team as well as amending the provisions constituting the board to require it to have a member with expertise in animal welfare. It was also given stronger powers to investigate animal welfare breaches. There are further steps that we have taken, such as the whole-of-life digital tracking program, which if I did have more time I would love to go into more detail on. But I think it is important to return at the end of my speech to where I started, and that is to say that we can only have good outcomes in this space if we have good, effective and transparent data. This is a motion that seeks to improve the transparency of that data and improve that data itself, and therefore I do commend this motion to the house.

Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (11:17): The Liberals and Nationals will oppose this motion for the reasons that I will outline in this debate – 620 is the motion. If you wander your fingers to the website of the Animal Justice Party, which I did this morning – it is not a place where I regularly go, but I did this morning – you would see on the website that their stated aim, their stated goal as part of their platform, is to ‘work towards ending all animal racing’. Does this mean all racing? Yes, greyhounds are stated. That is what this party is about – ending greyhound racing, period. It is about ending all sorts of racing. We are about to enter the cup season. The huge Spring Racing Carnival – that will be on their target. Does it also include Olympic equestrian events, where participants race for gold cups and medals? Is that what it includes? Does this end to all animal racing mean your local pony club events in Victoria, around the state, the barrel races where young people engaged in outside activity are looking to win a race for a blue ribbon? Is that what this is, named and stated?

Going to the website of the Animal Justice Party, it says that:

… Animal Justice … believes that animals should be enjoyed, appreciated, respected and cared for in as close to their natural state as possible. They should never be terrified as they perform unnatural behaviours …

That is from the Animal Justice Party. Well, let me provide to the house a case study on the Animal Justice Party’s own behaviour –

Members interjecting.

Melina BATH: without assistance, as we heard before through the other debates. Let us talk about Angel. Angel was a Gippy goat in a domestic situation, in a legal farming operation system. It was housed with its other fellow herd members in Yarragon. Now, one morning in about January 2019, the Animal Justice Party decided it was a good idea to go and collect that goat. They made a choice to pick that goat up out of a pack, out of the herd, to put it in the back of a domestic car, to drive it away –

Katherine Copsey: On a point of order, Acting President, on relevance to the motion.

The ACTING PRESIDENT (Michael Galea): I am not sure that a goat is relevant to a motion on greyhounds. It is a long bow. I ask you to come back to the motion, please.

Melina BATH: In my comment on this, it was put in a nappy and set at home and then Facebooked around the world.

Georgie Purcell: On a point of order, Acting President, I ask that the member be brought back to the motion. This is not a motion about the Animal Justice Party; it is about greyhound racing. It is not about goats.

The ACTING PRESIDENT (Michael Galea): I uphold the point of order.

Melina BATH: This is the party that wants to end all animal racing, and it wants to usurp those of the Greyhound Racing Victoria board – a board that has been installed and put in by the Labor Minister for Racing. It feels like he is being usurped in this particular motion before us today.

Nine years ago – there is no doubt across anybody’s mind – the greyhound racing industry needed to improve its animal welfare and its integrity outcomes. Nine years ago it needed to definitely pull up its socks, but in the past nine years Greyhound Racing Victoria has gone to extreme lengths to improve animal welfare, to improve the integrity of the racing industry and to be a world leader in the regulatory process of this industry. It is already certainly a leader in integrity and welfare, and I want to put on record some of the points. Indeed we have heard from the Labor Party there, from the speaker across the way, that there will be some changes in GRV’s annual report that is coming out soon. I thank Tim Bull, the Shadow Minister for Racing – a passionate person who is most interested and passionate about not only animal welfare but the racing industry and its integrity. He informs me, and we have had the conversation, about the changes to the GRV’s annual reporting. We have heard from the member across the way of some of those improvements.

What is clear – and the Animal Justice Party frequently choose not to present this fact – is that healthy greyhounds cannot be and are not euthanised because they are too slow. This is a myth, and it must be busted. I thank Mr Tim Bull for the work he is doing. Any noncompliance with the rules regarding euthanasia are investigated by the integrity unit, and serious breaches of those rules are certainly prosecuted and come before the independent Victorian Racing Tribunal. All healthy greyhounds must be rehomed or retained as pets by their owners.

If we look at some of this industry and the importance of it to not only our regional but our metropolitan economies, there are 4700 full-time equivalent jobs; over 13,600 participants, support staff and volunteers; and indeed the over $643 million it generates to the Victorian economy on an annual basis. Boy, do we need industry to be generating for the economy in this deplorable black hole of a state. Greyhound Racing Victoria certainly is a statutory body. We heard it from the former speaker, but we also know that there is stringent transparency. As I have said, greyhounds at the end of their working life must be rehomed into a community or retained by their owners, and we know that they are beautiful creatures. We have heard that before. My ex-father-in-law, who I loved very dearly, died at a ripe old age well into his 90s. Why? Because he was a working member of the greyhound industry and walked his dogs well into his 90s because he loved them. I bless him every day for the work that he did and the love that he showed to those animals.

In the past four years there have been improvements in terms of animal welfare. Total injuries in Victorian greyhound races have dropped by 8 per cent. We have seen that in the last racing season more than 92 per cent of all racing injuries were deemed officially by the on-track veterinarians as non-serious. We see that fatality rates across Victorian races are down almost 50 per cent – 47 per cent – and long-term fatalities are diminishing as well. We know that there are some fantastic racing clubs – Sale, in my electorate, Traralgon as well, Warragul, Warrnambool, Bendigo, Cranbourne, Geelong, Ballarat and the Meadows, where my father-in-law loved to spend much of his time, for example.

The greyhound racing integrity welfare unit is certainly being proactive in its detection, in its investigation and its prosecution of those that are doing wrong. Just on the swabs, I note that in the last year 10,428 swabs were taken, and prohibited substances were detected in 70 samples, well down from the 103 that we heard about from the Animal Justice Party just today. Also, in terms of visits to various homes and establishments, property visits, there were 2818 visits this year, compared to 1700 last year.

Finally, in terms of some of the conversations we have heard about the Greyhound Adoption Program, we have heard about the important work that it does, and we endorse its work and that of other registered rehoming organisations. One of the things that I find quite bizarre is that in paragraph (2)(c) the member is calling for the GRV to track any greyhounds that are accepted by another rehoming or research agency and then secondarily rehomed by volunteers after being adopted out by the GAP or a participant. If you look at that, my dear colleague Danny O’Brien has Maisie. He has had Maisie for about seven years. If Maisie was adopted out for whatever reason – Danny went overseas and his family went overseas, heaven forbid – the GRV would be expected to track that dog and every dog to the nth degree.

I have to say the Nationals and the Liberals will be opposing this motion. We know that the Animal Justice Party has an end goal to end all racing. This is just one step in it, and I think the Labor Party is complicit in the diminishment of all racing.

Katherine COPSEY (Southern Metropolitan) (11:27): I rise to speak on Ms Purcell’s motion, and I thank her for bringing it today. The Greens will be supporting this motion today. I will say at the outset I feel a little left out because the Greens have been advocating for decades and have been very consistent in our position that greyhound racing should be banned. So on the previous member’s contribution and the fixation the previous member brought on Ms Purcell and the Animal Justice Party, please include the Greens in your promo speech next time as well.

The greyhound racing industry operates on a perpetual cycle of exploitation, animal cruelty and gambling-fuelled social harm. In pursuit of profit, greyhound breeding and training practices are exploitative, with dogs suffering under harsh conditions, suffering severe neglect, pain, injury and death. Most greyhounds killed in racing in Australia die here in Victoria, with the current on-track death toll at 39 – 18 more than any other state in this country. As Ms Purcell observed, that has gone up as recently as last night, with another dog meeting its fate on the track. Most dogs die from broken legs, from broken spines or from broken necks. At least 2551 greyhounds have been injured in Victoria on racetracks this year, and 450 of those were considered major injuries. In an effort to keep the death toll down – the published death toll – the industry only counts greyhound deaths that occur instantaneously either on impact or by euthanasia at the track as being on-track death.

We saw an egregious example of this sort of statistic being abused that was reported in the Guardian at the weekend. The vet suspected with this dog that a fracture had occurred. The dog was 12 months old, and the injury had been sustained at a training property, not during racing. The owners of this dog refused to pay for treatment, and they told the vet to euthanise the dog. Any dog that cannot race is not worth the money and the cost that it would incur to a trainer to feed them. Young healthy dogs are being euthanised because it does not fit the profit model for the owners of racing dogs to pay for vet bills and the upkeep and wellbeing of these dogs.

I ran a community stall out in our local dog park coincidentally last week, and we were speaking with dog owners there and asking them to sign up for our campaign to ban and end greyhound racing. I thought I would share some of the observations from local community members that we had during those conversations. Everyone we spoke to was visibly shocked to learn that of the 195 countries in the world only seven still allow greyhounds to be raced for profit. The US is the largest of those, and even there greyhound racing is banned in 49 states, and only two tracks remain in West Virginia. People had a look of horror on their face when they learned that injured or old greyhounds were called ‘wastage’ in the industry and that they were euthanised regularly. In relation to the good work done by greyhound rehoming programs there were a lot of assumptions challenged there. Most people that we spoke to assumed that there was a virtuous circle of greyhound adoption and that all old, injured or unwanted dogs were being adopted out of greyhound racing, so they were shocked to learn the truth – that most of the organisations that rehome greyhounds, despite their tireless work and hard work being done mostly by volunteers, only have the capacity to rehome one in six greyhound racing dogs in Australia. The remaining five out of six dogs are just considered wastage and euthanised.

The death grip that the gambling industry has on the greyhound industry cannot be overstated. The financial gain and the drive to maximise profits is superseding animal welfare. We do not forget that racing greyhounds also causes significant gambling harm to our communities. People are finding themselves trapped in a cycle of debt, despair and worse. Research from the Coroners Court of Victoria examined the Victorian suicide register, which showed in just a short time period from 2009 to 2016 at least 184 suicides were directly related to gambling and 17 other suicides were by affected others, such as family members.

What is worse is that out of all of this cruelty, all of this injury and all of this community and animal misery and pain, Victorian taxpayers are paying for it. The Parliamentary Budget Office found that the government is spending more than $40 million a year propping up the state’s lethal greyhound racing industry. During a cost-of-living crisis and a housing crisis Labor is choosing to spend $40 million of public money propping up this cruel industry. Ms Purcell was the one who requested that costing from the Parliamentary Budget Office, and I thank her for doing that important work.

The social licence for greyhound racing is small and diminishing. Those involved in greyhound welfare tell us that there are significantly less trainers and less races than in past decades. The economics of this will eventually tip over, and we will catch up with the rest of the world, where communities are reclaiming dog and horse racing tracks for homes, for parks and for schools, but until that time the cruelty and the harm continues, and we could and should bring an end to greyhound racing now. The Greens’ policies include a transition employment plan for trainers and other workers and to properly fund a welfare and rehoming plan for current racing greyhounds, which we can hear is just not even touching the sides of the need that is there. If this motion today is successful, what it will generate is factual and transparent reporting that is sorely missing – the actual number of injuries and deaths, the rates of euthanasia, the numbers being rehomed and the level of drugs being administered to dogs that are being raced as part of the greyhound industry. Of course the industry do not want this data reported and neither do some of their most enthusiastic backers over on the other side of the benches, but Labor too is complicit in the current practices of the greyhound racing industry, so I am very pleased to hear that the government will be supporting the motion today so that we can see increased transparency and accuracy around the actual impacts of this industry.

I predict that if more in the community understand the pain and carnage that lies behind every starting bell at every race, then racing’s social licence will continue to diminish and eventually will evaporate. I also want to acknowledge the important work that is being done by volunteers, particularly those who are rehoming, working in fostering and introducing the actual animals that lie behind the numbers that we have been discussing and that this motion will bring forward. Every statistic is a living, breathing creature, and we deserve to know the kinds of impacts that this cruel industry is having. I commend Ms Purcell for bringing the motion. The Greens will be supporting it today.

John BERGER (Southern Metropolitan) (11:34): I rise today to contribute to Ms Purcell’s motion on transparency in the greyhound racing industry, and I would first like to commend Ms Purcell’s passion for animal rights in Victoria and her persistent advocacy. Speaking for those with no voice is always commendable.

Greyhound racing has been a long-existing institution in Victoria. The first races started in 1873, which makes it older than federation itself. We have come a long way since then, and it has grown into a major sport in Australia, now contributing in excess of $643 million to the economy. The protections for greyhounds have grown alongside it. Greyhound Racing Victoria has a very clear record of continuous improvement in reporting key animal welfare data, especially concerning injuries and fatalities. The industry has strong protections, with strict regulations which govern how animals are treated on and off the field. This has led to Victoria having some of the strongest protections for greyhounds globally. As problems arise, new rules are put into place. In the past five years, the rate of fatal injury in races is down by 47 per cent and the longer term trend for race fatalities has come down from one in 1000 to 0.4 in just six years. The industry has grown from this scrutiny to be a better regulated sport.

As the Minister for Racing, my good friend Minister Carbines strives to ensure the integrity of all racing industries in Victoria, including greyhound racing. In 2022 Minister Carbines oversaw the establishment of a 24-hour facility to promote the integrity of both horse and greyhound racing, a major step in ensuring the health of all the animals involved. These facilities ensure that drug testing can be performed around the clock to help prevent doping. Our risk-based approach to this has helped enable the detection of substances, with over 10,000 swabs in the past year detecting around 70 samples, down from 103 the previous year.

Additionally, earlier this year in May Minister Carbines announced the funding of a new greyhound-tracking system. This greyhound-tracking system goes to the heart of what this motion is really calling for – transparency in the greyhound racing industry and the assurance of greyhound welfare. The tracking system will be a game changer for the welfare of greyhounds in Victoria. The program is called the whole-of-life digital tracking program and is designed to expand protections for the welfare of greyhounds as well as the monitoring of those protections. With initial funding of $2 million for its development, the whole-of-life digital tracking will ensure that the multimillion-dollar industry is operating at the level that it should be. Having transparent and detailed records is the first step in ensuring greyhounds are protected. It also ensures that if there are breaches of the code, it will be easier to track and punish those responsible. This is just a small part of our commitment to protecting greyhounds.

Greyhound racing maintains 4700 jobs. That is thousands of families that are relying on this industry to keep a roof over their heads. That does not include the countless others who are reliant on the tourism that the industry brings to this state. That tourism keeps countless restaurants and bars in our local community open. Whether it is the AFL, the Melbourne Cup or even the greyhound races, we attract people from all over the world to our sporting events.

With the size of this industry, it is important that it is supported with the best up-to-date technology. This is important not just for the punters but also for the greyhounds. Whole-of-life tracking will include details such as date of birth, microchipping, vaccination records and also notations on trainers and owners. This technology needs modern infrastructure around it, which is why the government has supported the modernisation of greyhound racing facilities to ensure a thorough history of racing greyhounds is recorded and accessible.

As we know, adoption is a big part of the greyhound industry, with over 2500 greyhounds rehomed in Victoria. It is an essential way the industry ensures former racing dogs have good quality of life even after their careers on the track. It can at times be difficult to adopt out all the retired dogs. Greyhound Racing Victoria has partnered with the Victorian government and Corrections Victoria for some time to run a prison outreach program with the Greyhound Adoption Program. This program allows Tarrengower Prison inmates to work with greyhounds in the training program to assist these dogs before they find new homes. The program is prolific, having recently reached a milestone of 600 dogs being rehabilitated and rehomed. The program is also beneficial to the inmates in Tarrengower as it offers them skills that they can use as they transition back into the community. Additionally, it helps dogs adjust to their new world after adoption, with the training program focusing greyhounds to adapt to certain stimuli, such as walking on a leash, loud appliances and other activities which they would not be used to, like walking up stairs.

Victoria is a place where everyone is protected, and that extends to animals. As long as there is a Labor government in power, we will strive to ensure that the safety of all animals is under the jurisdiction of the state. Since 2015 there have been two inquiries into greyhound racing, and of the collective 68 recommendations we have implemented 67. This government has introduced a range of measures over its time in office to ensure the protection of animals in this state. One of these measures came from an unexpected place of policy creation – rental reforms. In 2021 rental reforms made several notable changes to the landscape of renting in Victoria. With the housing crisis hitting Victoria hard we needed big changes to ensure a safer and better Victoria for renters. This meant many different amendments, such as a specification on what terms can and cannot be included in rental agreements and limits on unfair and unnecessary rental agreements. It additionally placed protections on Victorians that often are not considered when we talk about housing.

The Allan Labor government’s pet census found that 58 per cent of Victorians own one or more pets. The census found that approximately 1.4 million pets lived in Victoria. That is 1.4 million pets also at risk of being impacted by the housing crisis. That is why this government introduced measures to give pets and their owners housing stability. In Victoria rental applicants are not to be discriminated against if the applicant discloses that they have a pet. This is to ensure more stability for families with pets and will make navigating the rental market easier for pet owners. Of course if rental providers feel that a pet is inappropriate for the rental property they make an application through VCAT to protect their property. With nearly 3000 former racing greyhounds rehomed in the 2021–22 financial year alone, this rental reform will directly impact the quality of life for these greyhounds, and they will get to enjoy that in their new homes.

Greyhound adoption is incredibly important. If anyone here is considering adopting a dog, I would sincerely encourage them to adopt a greyhound. They are loving and caring dogs, and with the help of the Greyhound Adoption Program thousands of greyhounds are being rehomed with loving carers. Those carers can be renters, as I mentioned before, or they could be therapy service providers too. A great example of this is Tess, a therapy dog at Wandong Primary School out in northern Victoria. Tess is a greyhound dog who helps kids and parents who suffer from anxiety and bullying at school, and I am sure they are all very thankful for her.

Here in Victoria we have a range of options for greyhounds to be rehomed, whether it be through the Prison Pet program run in partnership with Corrections Victoria or the adoption program for the general public. This government is more than happy to support the rehoming of greyhounds. Racing is a well-regulated sport in this state, with strong protections against doping, as I have mentioned already, and provisions for transparency. I would like to touch on this point of transparency for a moment.

Transparency is an important cornerstone of democracy and the democratic process. This side of the house strongly believes in the net benefits of transparency given to all proceedings in society – governmental or not. As I mentioned earlier in my contribution, this government believes in the importance of a transparent greyhound racing industry, and I would like to reiterate the strides made earlier this year in implementing transparency measures for the industry. The whole-of-life tracking program will ensure that welfare is a major priority and that any potential abuse is caught and addressed. The government has protected greyhounds, and that will ensure that those protections are enforced.

At the same time the government is committed to building strong industries which attract people globally. Since coming into government we have been consistent with our support of a flourishing yet well-regulated greyhound racing industry. It brings tourism from all across country and generates well over half a billion dollars in economic activity in its own right each year. We have consistently supported measures that protect animal welfare, especially with regard to the management of injuries and with a comprehensive set of rehoming programs for greyhounds. The government will be, in that light, supporting this motion by Ms Purcell. The government have been a force for good change, and we will continue our commitment to protecting animals on and off the track.

Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (11:44): I rise to speak on this motion. I thank Ms Purcell for bringing it forward and acknowledge that her positions on these issues come from a good place, although I disagree with them. The motion makes a lot of claims about secrecy and accountability which are simply not accurate. The fact is Greyhound Racing Victoria, GRV, is already a leader amongst racing regulators in terms of transparency on the key welfare and integrity data that it reports. Healthy greyhounds cannot be and are not euthanised because they are too slow. It is about time that we were honest in this debate and stopped peddling this. GRV have a strong track record in detecting, investigating and prosecuting those that do the wrong thing, and it is a shame that we have to have the opposition defending the government-appointed GRV when the government will not. Any noncompliance with the rules regarding euthanasia is investigated by the integrity unit, with charges laid by the GRV for any serious breaches of the rules. All instances of euthanasia of GRV-registered greyhounds by a vet are reviewed. All healthy retired greyhounds must be rehomed or retained as pets by their owners or trainers. Indeed it has become quite the fashion in parts of my electorate to take a retired greyhound as a pet. I have many friends that do the same.

The industry as led by GRV should be commended for their commitment to improving standards. Over the past four years total injuries in Victorian greyhound races have dropped more than 8 per cent, down from 34.50 injuries per 1000 starters to 31.66 – 3.2 per cent of all starters in Victoria for the year. Last racing season more than 92 per cent of all racing injuries were deemed by the officiating on-track veterinarian to be non-serious. The injuries that were deemed as serious represent 2.46 injuries per 1000 starters, or 0.2 per cent of all starters, a figure down year on year. Fatality rates in Victorian races are down more than 47 per cent on five years ago. The long-term trend for race fatalities has seen the rate per 1000 starters come down by more than half, from around 1.0 per 1000 in 2017–18 to less than 0.4 per cent of all starters in 2023–24. That is a really great achievement. The integrity and welfare unit has also ramped up the number of greyhound property visits and inspections it conducts, with 2818 visits completed in the last year, up from 1711 in the prior financial year. This significant year-on-year increase demonstrates the commitment of GRV to ensure compliance with the rules of racing, the code of practice for the keeping of racing greyhounds and the standards for greyhound welfare.

It is worth noting that Ms Purcell’s motion also calls on GRV to keep track of post-racing homes for every greyhound, an incredibly onerous burden that is not within their remit and would put excessive pressure on the body. Even if a retired greyhound is rehomed and then that person has to move away or there is a change in circumstances and they have to rehome the greyhound once again, that would mean GRV would have to follow that greyhound around for the rest of its life. This government cannot even keep track of children within state residential care, but it is supporting a motion which expects GRV to keep track of greyhounds for the rest of their life between several different owners. I mean, that is a seriously onerous burden.

Victoria is home to the largest and most successful greyhound racing jurisdiction in the world, conducting more than 15,000 races annually at 13 greyhound clubs across the state. And I will just touch on the Victorian racing industry: $643 million in annual economic contribution to Victoria, two-thirds of which – $420 million – is in regional Victoria, with over 4700 full-time equivalent jobs in Victoria and over 13,600 participants, support staff and volunteers in Victoria. The economic benefits are there for all to see. There are also a range of ancillary industries such as veterinary support, food supply and hospitality that are supported by the greyhound racing industry. The fact is that people seek to attack and denigrate this industry and do so on the basis of outdated and erroneous conceptions and convictions that simply do not reflect the greyhound industry of today. The trainers, the race holders, GRV and the industry only seek to look after the greyhounds in their care, and that is a respect I share. To quote the great Darryl Kerrigan of the iconic Australian film The Castle, greyhounds are ‘noble animals, skinny and sleek and have a beautiful snout’.

We know this motion from the Animal Justice Party is just the thin end of the wedge for an extreme agenda. We know that the Animal Justice Party has a policy of ending all races, and as my colleague Ms Bath mentioned, that would include pony clubs, Olympic equestrian, the Melbourne Cup – every form of racing. That would devastate our state economically and also be really bad for our state and for people’s enjoyable recreational activity.

I am very disappointed at the Labor Party’s stance on this particular motion. The government appoints the board of GRV, and by supporting this motion the government is expressing a no-confidence vote in the board it appoints to look after the industry and to apply the existing rules and regulations, and so it is really disappointing of this government.

It would not be a speech about greyhounds for me if I did not talk about the Meadows greyhound track in my own electorate in Broadmeadows. Our fantastic track hosts over 104 greyhound race meets annually and more than 1000 races, and I am proud to have visited there on several occasions. The Meadows hosts the Australian Cup, Phoenix, Topgun, Hume Cup, Great Chase grand final, Silver cup and the Maturity Classic. Perhaps Mr Erdogan can come with me this year to the Phoenix in Broadmeadows. That would be fantastic. Over $2 million in prize money is won and distributed among the owners of greyhounds raced at the Meadows under the Melbourne Greyhound Racing Association. The lion’s share of this prize money is actually offered by Greyhound Racing Victoria, with a significant contribution made by the MGRA.

In June this year I was proud to host at the Meadows a race named the Evan Mulholland MP Cup. It was a fantastic night, and it was great to join the former premier Denis Napthine and also my colleague, who I want to thank, the Shadow Minister for Racing Tim Bull. I want to congratulate the winner Follow the Band and trainer Rebecca Gibbons, who took out the Evan Mulholland MP Cup. I ran into lots of people at the Meadows that night – lots of people that were from Coolaroo, that were from Westmeadows, that were from Broadmeadows and that were from Jacana – and they came up to me to thank me for my support of the greyhound racing industry, because they had seen speeches from me supporting the industry previously. The people in these areas are not unaware of how the Labor Party votes in this place, of how the Labor Party is offering explicit support to this motion, which we know is the thin edge of the wedge for the industry. They want to see their politicians from major parties wholeheartedly supporting greyhound racing, and that is exactly what I will do in this place.

Rachel PAYNE (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (11:54): I rise to speak on this motion on behalf of Legalise Cannabis Victoria. In my office there is a member of my team who goes by the name Sparky, short for Sparkle Star Cupcake. Sparky is a bit different from the rest of them, and it is not just his fabulous name; Sparky is a rescue sighthound. He is the sweetest little guy. He is always watching us work and never leaves our sides unless we throw a tennis ball down the hallway. Despite a rough start in life, Sparky is now lucky to have a really wonderful life with people who love him dearly, but unfortunately many of his sighthound siblings are not so lucky. They continue to be exploited, hurt, traumatised and killed by the greyhound industry in Victoria.

We know that Victoria leads the nation in on-track greyhound deaths. This year the death toll is at 38 so far, and at least 2551 have been injured. But we do not have a full picture of the real extent of the industry’s damage because of the way that the data is reported. That is why this motion is so important. This motion proposes changes to the Greyhound Racing Victoria annual report which will provide greater transparency on the state of the industry and how we can make change for the better.

Dogs that do not die on the track or are not immediately euthanised are not included in the fatality data. That means that a greyhound who is injured on the track but only succumbs to those injuries days later is not counted as a fatality. The way data is collected currently underestimates the harms of the greyhound racing industry. We owe it to these dogs to change this. The 10-day window following a race, training or trial proposed in this motion will ensure we understand the true number of dogs killed off track and why. When living, breathing animals are treated as a quick cash grab, we must be equipped to deal with the reality of trainers putting dogs down when they are no longer profitable.

This motion also proposes positive changes that would expand the data relating to the use of prohibited substances and rehoming. Given the recent uptick in prohibited substance use, this data is essential to appropriately respond to this issue.

This industry is unsustainable and cruel, and that is why the additional data will help us review this information. The current rate of greyhound breeding in Australia is six times the industry rehoming organisation’s capacity. The suite of improvements to data reporting in this motion is critical to ensuring the highest level of oversight for this industry. In a modern world where there are so many alternatives, it is heartbreaking to see the continued use of animals in the gambling industry.

Then there is the absolute hypocrisy that is a government standing in this place and championing how they are preventing and responding to gambling harms, all while they continue to prop up the greyhound racing industry. Thanks to the great work of Ms Purcell and the Parliamentary Budget Office we know that over four years this government will dedicate $90 million to propping up the greyhound racing industry. I hope they will support this motion so that we can understand just how prevalent these harms are and maybe review the fact that we are investing taxpayers money into a greyhound racing industry.

It is my hope that every greyhound in this state will find a home, like our little friend Sparky, where they race down the hallways chasing balls for fun and not for profit. The more greyhounds that go on to live lazy lives in retirement the better. Legalise Cannabis Victoria supports this motion and congratulates Ms Purcell on her tireless advocacy for our greyhound friends.

Jeff BOURMAN (Eastern Victoria) (11:58): I do not support this motion.

David LIMBRICK (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (11:58): In the brief time that we have, I would firstly like to state that the Libertarian Party does not oppose the greyhound racing industry. We do not seek to interfere with it or shut it down, and we recognise it as a legitimate sporting activity. However, at its core what this motion is referring to is enhanced reporting requirements, so what we are saying here is that if the industry wants to take taxpayer subsidies, then they should be reporting back to the taxpayers on how those subsidies are being used. Therefore we consider this a quite minor requirement on welfare, because there are many taxpayers that are concerned about this. So we will not be opposing this motion.

Business interrupted pursuant to sessional orders.