Bulli race track boss Darren Hull has hit out at a Greens proposal to shut down greyhound racing in NSW in the wake of the live bait scandal and allegations of animal abuse.
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Greens MP John Kaye will on Tuesday introduce a bill that would dissolve Greyhound Racing NSW and ban racing in the state by January 1, 2016, on the grounds the industry is incapable of operating without animal abuse.
Mr Hull, who is operations manager at Bulli Racing Complex, labelled the bill ‘‘a knee-jerk reaction’’ to a damning ABC Four Corners investigation, which showed live bait including rabbits, piglets and possums being used as lures to train race dogs.
‘‘The live baiting scandal has tarred a lot of people with the one brush – it caught five or six out of 3000-4000 trainers,’’ Mr Hull said. ‘‘[Dr Kaye] says the industry’s a cruel industry, but this is what greyhounds are bred to do: run.
‘‘What’s the difference between greyhound racing and horse racing?
‘‘The industry’s been going for more than 100years – it’s part of Australia’s culture.’’
Mr Hull said the industry created jobs for himself, a groundskeeper and a track curator at Bulli.
The Bulli operation also produced flow-on income to others, including people who sold greyhound products and operators of the Illawarra Folk Festival and Foragers Market, who sub-let the grounds from Bulli Greyhound Racing Club.
At least seven NSW greyhound trainers were stood down in the immediate aftermath of the Four Corners exposé.
Scores of trainers have since been banned from the sport in Queensland, where a special police task force is investigating live baiting practices.
Dr Kaye said Australia was one of only eight countries to maintain a commercial greyhound industry.
His bill would set up a transition ‘‘task force’’, funded by the assets of the dissolved Greyhound Racing NSW, to rehabilitate and rehome dogs and help industry employees find new work.
The export of greyhounds for racing or breeding would be prohibited, as would interstate racing by NSW-registered dogs.
‘‘While there are some extremely good and decent people who own, train and race greyhounds, the industry is so badly beset by the unacceptable violation of animal welfare,’’ Dr Kaye said.
He said the industry had lost 1000 jobs in the past three years and now accounted for just 1500 full-time positions.
‘‘The greyhound racing industry is a poor generator of employment. It contributes little to the NSW economy and provides opportunities for yet more problem gambling,’’ he said.
