Procedural fairness too much to ask?

While the many points raised by member for Cootamundra, Katrina Hodgkinson MP in objection to Premier Baird and Deputy Premier Grant’s decision on the Greyhound industry are worthy and valid, the most striking for me is that it is so unfair.

I remember watching the ABC Four Corners report that night some 16 months ago and was sickened by the vision of the horrible cruelty to defenceless animals.

As disgusting and indefensible as it was, the industry still deserved their chance to show that the sport could be cleaned up.

The Greyhound industry had begun the reforms necessary to regain their “social licence”, which the McHugh Report questioned.

Now they have been cut down without given the chance to prove it.    

I would have expected that our NSW government owes the vast majority of decent, innocent people involved in the industry, to continue to clean out the undesirable element that has created this crisis.

Procedural fairness, is it that much to ask?

Regards,

Stuart Freudenstein.

Young

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DEPUTY PREMIER EXPLAINS HIS DECISION TO SHUT DOWN GREYHOUND RACING

To the Editor,

Being a leader is about making tough decisions that are for the greater good.

Last week I had to make one of those tough decisions, and that was to end greyhound racing in NSW by July 1 next year.

The decision followed a Special Commission of Inquiry Report that was over a year in the making and had the powers of a Royal Commission to really get to the bottom of what’s wrong in the greyhound racing industry.

The findings of the report disgusted me: as many as 68,000 greyhound were killed over the last 12 years for not being fast enough, up to one fifth of trainers use the horrific live baiting practice and there is no appetite for the industry to change.

Some people are saying: “why not give the industry another chance, reform them not close them?’’.

The former High Court Justice who conducted the inquiry was emphatic in saying that even if the industry was reformed, he believed these practices would return once the harsh spotlight of commission was removed.

That’s a chance this government was not willing to take.

What also came out in the inquiry report was that the industry was already planning a significant downsizing due to it not being economically viable in its current state.

This would have meant the closure of up to 19 regional tracks, including the one right here in Young.

With our decisive action, we’re now actually able to provide government financial assistance.

This will come in the form of employment transition support to those in the industry with race tracks closing - something that would not have happened under the industry’s downsizing plan.

I strongly urge those battling with this issue to take the time to read the Commission’s report and you will understand why the government has taken this path.

You can find it at http://www.greyhoundracinginquiry.justice.nsw.gov.au/

Regards,

Troy Grant

NSW Deputy Premier

Leader of the NSW Nationals

Minister for Racing