Regulations of the NSW greyhound racing industry are to undergo an Auditor-General performance audit.
Greens Member of the Legislative Council and party spokesperson for animal welfare Abigail Boyd issued a statement early Monday morning saying she’d written to the AG requesting a review of the Greyhound Welfare & Integrity Commission (GWIC) and the regulatory framework set up in 2017.
Ms Boyd accused the Labor state government of sweeping the greyhound racing industry’s scandals ‘under the carpet’ when it announced a GWIC inquiry last month.
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The announcement came after the SMH (paywall) revealed former Greyhound Racing NSW head veterinarian, Alex Brittan, had written to industry leaders saying the sector was unsustainable, with deaths hidden from the public.
Mr Brittan described the treatment of racing greyhounds as barbaric, rehoming rates as inflated, and dogs raced at unhealthy intensity.
He also referred to a massive increase in greyhound injuries, with most animals left to ‘live out miserable post-racing lives in industrial kennels’, the SMH reported.
The SMH story also highlighted a report by a retired High Court judge eight years ago that found the industry had ‘fundamental animal welfare issues, integrity and governance failings that could not be remedied’.But Labor Premier Chris Minns said the industry would not be shut down, before the latest inquiry had even started.
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The government’s recent inquiry’s results were yet to be released and the inquiry was designed to be ‘politically-constrained,’ Ms Boyd said on Monday, with no mention of GWIC in its terms of reference.
‘NSW Labor prevented an inquiry that could assess whether the industry is in fact capable of reform and can ever be commercially viable while also meeting the animal welfare standards the community expects,’ the MLC wrote.
‘Yet GWIC’s powers and structures have been proven inadequate in regulating the greyhound racing industry, allowing extreme animal cruelty and neglect to go unaddressed for years,’ she said.
AG greyhound report due next year
The A-G’s audit would start early next year, Ms Boyd said, as part of the state’s Audit Office’s Annual Work Program.
‘Unlike the inquiry set up by NSW Labor through GWIC, the results of which are not required to be made public, the Auditor-General’s report will be delivered directly to Parliament when complete, regardless of how politically inconvenient it may be at the time,’ she said.
The scope of the audit was yet to be published.
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