Where to now for greyhound racing?

That's a good question and one that deserves a considered answer. There are basically several ways that things have already changed and a series of measures that ensure things continue to change. They include cultural changes that were brought about at the grassroots of the sport, hard regulations brought down from Government, increased funding on welfare initiatives and the dramatic changes in breeding numbers, all of which have happened simultaneously making it difficult to say which has been most important. It's essential before answering the question of what to do about the issue that an attempt is made to understand what's going on. Until recently, what to do with a greyhound was left to the discretion of the owner. This was a conscious decision of past and current Governments (including the Baird Government who were much more aware of this than most) and meant that people within greyhound racing could only make decisions about the greyhounds they privately owned, but the only influence about those they didn't was through persuasion. Of course, this changed in July, first with the greyhound racing regulation 2016 and then with the prohibition bill that, for the first time in NSW, introduced regulations specifying what an owner could and couldn't do with a greyhound upon retirement from racing. To Baird's credit, he did actually change the law to address the issue of greyhounds not being cared for as pets upon retirement, although it wasn't widely reported and the regulation has problems in some of the specifics. Whatever the case, the law is very different now to what it was six months ago and if you purchase a greyhound you have no excuse not to know that you have to prepare for what happens upon retirement. In saying that, raceclubs and associations were very pro-active in shaping the culture of greyhound racing for the last year or so, a culture that was far more diverse in the motivations of people that own a greyhound than most give credit for. There was a very widespread debate within the sport that slowly but surely had an effect. The most dramatic change that resulted from this cultural change has been the reduction in breeding levels by around 50%, which is more than enough to ensure that every greyhound has a home after racing by my estimates which are, of course, debatable. The other piece of the puzzle is the increased funding for the GAP which has been incredibly successful in Victoria. Really this should have been addressed a long time ago, I remember volunteering at the Easter Show around 15 years ago and even then there was a big push on at the grassroots for an expansive GAP program but it just didn't happen. Nevertheless, with the increased funding available and the structures that we know work in Victoria, a thousand greyhounds a year in NSW should be passing through the program if it were to be properly funded. As for policing, it's really not hard to rock up to people's place and ask "where's that greyhound" considering they are microchipped and earbranded. Either the greyhound is there or it isn't and either you have reported what's happened to it to the authorities or you haven't. As I said, previously there's been no regulation for the authorities to enforce and having the regulation is a prerequisite to enforcing anything. I hope that helps, it's almost certainly not an exhaustive list and the negotiations with Government (that I am not privy to) are ongoing. Others within the sport may well have had different experiences and it would be good to hear of them. Feel free to keep discussing and debating though, the sport needs to think through what people such as yourself are saying now that there's a unique period to change things for the better.

I understand where you're coming from and are loathe to make long term predictions, but greyhound racing had a dysfunctional regulatory system that desperately needed to be overhauled. Prior to the Four Corners, properties very rarely, if ever, were inspected and the laws on how a greyhound is treated when it ceases racing have now changed. Funnily enough Mike Baird receives no credit for that, but that's what he did with the greyhound racing regulation in July. I can't see things getting as bad as they were unless a regulatory authority chooses to sit on their hands at some point in the future and that's why it's important for participants to keep insisting on fair and effective regulation of the sport. And it's important to keep listening to thoughtful contributions from the public in the long term, else the last six months will have no point.

I meant to use the same declaration at the end of the article as last time but screwed up the editing process. It should read "The author is a member of the Greyhound Breeders Owners and Trainers Association (GBOTA) and has a family member that is a Director of the GBOTA that is taking legal action against the McHugh report. These opinions are his own." At the end.

Here's a "reputable scientific opinion poll" in August showing support for the ban at 51-34. http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/support-for-baird-government-collapses-20160826-gr1x3y.html Here's the very same "reputable scientific poll" in December showing support for overturning the ban at 49-32. http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/fairfaxreachtel-poll-shows-nsw-premier-mike-baird-bouncing-back-20161202-gt2orz.html They didn't ask exactly the same question, but if you argue the wording of the question matters so much that it essentially reverses the result then it's not a very reliable poll at all. Essential had a similar turnaround from July to October. So, I don't think it was a "complete fabrication and revision of history" to say that popular opinion shifted dramatically in favour of overturning the ban at all when looking at the data from the reputable scientific polls that you suggest.