Liberals and Greens joined forces to ban Greyhounds, Another Liberal Green Party, the Greens in the Liberal Party have destroyed it, watch the Liberals lose the next Election in NSW!
Greyhound racing industry killed off in late-night vote by Baird-led government
Opposition Leader Luke Foley, who has promised to reverse the ban if elected in 2019, said a clause in the bill which states that compensation will not be paid to people affected by the ban was especially cruel.
The Baird Government stands accused of being “undemocratic” after it moved in the dead of night to put an end to NSW’s $335m greyhound industry.
NSW upper house MPs voted to pass the controversial bill in a vote taking place at 11:30 last night, on the same day the bill was introduced to parliament under an urgency motion usually reserved for anti-terror legislation.
The extraordinary moves comes as the Baird Government and Nationals MPs face a growing level of pressure on this issue, which stands to extinguish the livelihood and passion of more than 15,000 participants, trainers, breeders and owners across the industry, and a host of businesses up and down the supply chain.
Liberal MP Duncan Gay successfully sought to declare the government’s Greyhound Racing Prohibition Bill as urgent before introducing the legislation to the upper house yesterday.
It passed with a vote of 19-12 at 11.30pm, and is now likely to pass fully into law by the end of the month.
The Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party’s Robert Borsak described the ban — and Premier Mike Baird’s announcement of it via Facebook — as a “bloody disgrace”.
“It is obvious that the Premier made a moral judgment based on his own personal beliefs when he rushed to post on Facebook,” he said last night.
“Where is the moral outrage for those thousands of families whose very livelihoods are affected by this decision?
“Who will support those people in their grief, depression and loss of self-esteem? Who is going to support country communities that face a loss of income and assets?
“It will not be this Government; that is for sure. To put such a bill on the table without offering compensation is a bloody disgrace.”
Liberal member Peter Phelps, who abstained from the legislation’s final vote, questioned his own government’s approach to ban an entire industry after reading a report which provided recommendations on how to fix the industry.
“I have read the McHugh report and there are some terrible stories in it. But is this industry so irredeemable that it must be banned?” he said.
“If the 12 apostolic saints came down from heaven and we appointed them to the board of Greyhound Racing Australia, would this industry be so corrupt and unbearably fixable that it must still be banned?”
The move to fast-track the legislation was labelled a “farce” by Labor’s Peter Primrose, who said the opposition was given a copy of the legislation just 10 minutes before parliamentary proceedings commenced.
“The due process accorded to this parliament has been absolutely abused and absolutely trashed,” Mr Primrose said.
“How can we expect to go through the bill when we haven’t even read it?”
Anyone caught organising a greyhound race after July next year will face a maximum $11,000 fine or up to one year in jail under the proposed new laws.
The greyhound industry has begun a legal challenge to the ban through the NSW Supreme Court earlier this week, fighting to have Michael McHugh’s report that alleged up to 68,000 dogs were killed in the past 12 years declared invalid.
Lawyers representing the industry, including former solicitor general to the commonwealth David Bennett QC, applied for an expedition order to have the case heard quickly so the result could inform the passage of legislation through NSW Parliament.
But the move was rejected by Justice Christine Adamson, who argued that the separation of the courts and Parliament should be respected and that should wouldn’t speed up events to align with the political process.
In NSW Parliament last night, Mr Borsak’s Shooters Fishers and Farmers Party colleague Robert Brown slammed the ban as an example of government making the “wrong decision”.
“I think the Government has done the wrong thing,” he said. “I wish the Premier had reconsidered but he has not. I am not stupid, I can count — I know this bill is going to get up, but I say to everyone: Karma is real. What goes around comes around.”
The government will appoint an administrator who will be in charge of winding up the decades-old greyhound industry by July 1 next year, and manage the affairs of Greyhound Racing NSW in the interim.
Details of the government’s financial assistance package for industry members are still being worked out and a date for greyhound breeding to end is yet to be set, Mr Gay said.
“We recognise that people who are affected need to know what will be available to them so they can plan for the future,” he said.
“To that end the Government commits that it will announce its package of measures of help within three months from the passing of this legislation.
“We are consulting on options like payments related specifically to the costs of moving dogs out of the New South Wales industry or supporting the RSPCA and other animal welfare services in re-homing and fostering greyhounds.”
Opposition Leader Luke Foley, who has promised to reverse the ban if elected in 2019, said a clause in the bill which states that compensation will not be paid to people affected by the ban was especially cruel.
“The only thing certain here when the coalition and Greens combine to pass this is that thousands of people will be robbed of their livelihoods,” he told reporters.
The Greens’ Mehreen Faruqi said she would hold the government to account on its promise that all disused racing tracks and public land owned by Greyhound Racing NSW would not be sold off.
“I must say I’m also deeply uncomfortable that the export of dogs remains on the table,” she said, while commending the government for enacting the ban to end the “cruel” sport.
Three MPs from within the Baird government’s own ranks have said they won’t support the legislation but it’s unlikely they will cross the floor to vote against the government.
Labor, the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party and the Christian Democrats’ Fred Nile will vote against the government but the bill will have safe passage to the lower house with the Greens’ support.
NSW Greyhound Breeders, Owners and Trainers’ Association chief executive Brenton Scott declared his disappointment at the rushing of the bill through the state’s upper house.
“We are angry and disappointed,” he said in a statement. “This is an important issue - it should have been dealt with in the appropriate, regular manner which involves proper Parliamentary debate. We continue to ask for a fair go for our industry. I don’t believe we have received a fair hearing.
“It is now up to the NSW National Party members and independent MPs to stand up for the rights of their constituents and to protect the wider community from the significant damage a decision to pass this through the Lower House will bring.”
Mr Foley said Mr Baird had used the distraction of the Rio Olympics to push the legislation through.
“First Mike Baird announced the wipe out of an entire industry on Facebook then he rams it through the NSW Parliament under the cover of the Olympics,” he said this morning.
“The haste with which he is rushing through such damaging laws that will close down people’s livelihoods is extreme, as is his treatment of good law abiding citizens.
Mr Foley urged Nationals members to vote against the bill when it comes before the Lower House.
“Nationals MPs should cross the floor to oppose the Bill, to provide an alternative; a greyhound industry operating to very high standards of animal welfare. If the Nationals don’t do that they’ll be betraying their local communities.”
