Last week NSW premier Mike Baird made a landmark decision to ban greyhound racing in NSW.
Most people, regardless of their politics, saw this as a brave and compassionate decision based on the Special Commission report which found the ‘industry’ was inherently cruel, corrupt, callous and incapable or unwilling to reform.
Those disgusted by animal cruelty in all it’s forms, heralded this decision as a beacon of hope that a more compassionate and humane society might be emerging.
Even the most optimistic animal rights advocates were stunned by this decision, especially coming from the Liberal Party.
Imagine then, their utter shock and disbelief when Luke Foley chose this, of all issues, to oppose! In doing so he aligns himself and his Labor Party with the notorious Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party and the Fred Nile Group.
This attempt at cheap political point scoring is surely a new low in ‘opposition for the sake of i’ politics, and may well turn out to be political suicide for a leader who has been largely ineffectual and virtually invisible until now.
Social media this week has been bombarded with commentary from both sides of the argument, the vast majority of whom support the ban.
Many of those were Labor voters who were outraged by Foley’s attempted justification for seeking to overturn it.
The opponents have been claiming that the commission’s numbers are wrong. It found that between 48,000 and 68,000 dogs were killed in NSW in the last 12 years, purely because they were too slow or otherwise unsuitable for racing.
If even half those numbers are accurate, this is still utter carnage and we can only imagine what those figures would be Australia wide!
Then there is the issue of live baiting, horrendous injuries suffered during races and dogs illegally exported to Macau, where they are kept in appalling conditions until their eventual death, usually within 12 months.
This industry has had years to clean up it’s act and has failed spectacularly.
Australia is one of only eight countries worldwide which still allow this ‘sport’ and has actually been very slow to recognise that it has no place in modern society. Surely it is only a matter of time before other states follow suit as Canberra has done.
Yet Luke Foley has chosen to defend the indefensible! He claims to be standing up for ‘the battlers’ against the ‘elitist North Shore Greenies’.
He claims the perpetrators of this unmitigated slaughter of innocent animals are making an ‘honest living’.
Those same battlers who have stood by and knowingly allowed tens of thousands of dogs to be shot and left to die in mass graves or had their ears cut off and abandoned to fend for themselves in the bush.
Those same battlers who now claim to ‘love their dogs’ but won’t be able to afford to keep them if the ban goes ahead, yet can suddenly find millions of dollars with which to fight this decision.
Those who can only make a living by profiting from the misery and barbaric cruelty of these beautiful gentle dogs, not to mention problem gamblers, surely don’t deserve jobs.
Foley has clearly not spoken to the vets, animal shelters and selfless volunteers who have been traumatised while trying to clean up the ‘wastage’ from this despicable industry.
In fact, it beggars belief that he has even read the report, which was comprehensive, far reaching and conclusive.
If the recent election showed us anything, it was that the major parties are vastly out of touch with the concerns of the voting public and simply cannot be trusted.
Luke Foley has shown himself to be not only out of touch, but also a hypocrite and a fool.
Mike Baird on the other hand, in spite some other questionable decisions, has shown that he possesses courage, integrity, humanity and decency and this is surely his finest hour.
Lyn FitzGibbon, Bangalow
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
