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A Queensland Labor MP has called on her party to take a greyhound racing ban to the next election, arguing a controversial new track in her electorate could be converted to an athletics facility in the lead-up to the Brisbane 2032 Olympics.
Ipswich MP Jennifer Howard was one of hundreds to attend a rally in support of a greyhound racing ban at Brisbane’s Queens Park on Saturday.
Held on the day New Zealand enacted a national greyhound racing ban, the rally-goers called for an equivalent ban in Queensland before marching on state parliament.
Shortly after The Q, Queensland’s new greyhound racing hub, opened last year, racing was suspended due to unsafe conditions at the $90 million facility – to which the former Labor government contributed $44 million of taxpayers’ money.
Howard said she never supported the Purga track and had spoken out against it when it was first proposed.
“The idea of spending millions of dollars on what I considered an industry that’s on its way out just baffled me entirely,” she told this masthead.
“The Q was touted as the safest track ever – that’s why it was costing so much money – but obviously, it hasn’t gone well.
“I think you can draw the conclusion that it’s not the track that’s causing the death. It’s the sport itself.”
Late last year, this masthead revealed Racing Queensland had considered temporarily abandoning The Q as a result of the deaths and injuries – a measure that did not eventuate.
Howard said, in the event of a ban, she was confident The Q could be put to a different use.
“Ipswich needs a stadium. We need a really good sporting athletics facility,” Howard said.
“The Q could be repurposed beautifully and I’m very confident that one day it will be.”
With Tasmania also considering a ban, Howard said she hoped her party would take that position to the next Queensland election, to be held in 2028.
“When you look at the Western world and the way it’s turning its back on the sport everywhere, Queensland’s at risk of being an outlier if we don’t step up and start looking at phasing out this cruel industry,” she said.
Later, Howard told the crowd claims The Q would be a safe greyhound track were “a lie”. One who made such claims, not named by Howard, was former racing minister Grace Grace.
The Labor opposition did not respond to the lying allegation, but a spokesman said the party’s election platform would be announced over the next 2½ years.
“The former government always took the advice from experts during the planning and construction of The Q facility,” he said.
“Any subsequent failures upon opening or due to maintenance of the facility are a matter for the Crisafulli government.”
Comment was sought from Racing Minister Tim Mander.
Speaking before the rally, former Greyhound Racing NSW chief vet Alex Brittan said, across Australia, about seven dogs a day died as a result of the industry.
“The numbers that are produced are, in my opinion, are deliberately misleading,” he said.
“For example, they’ll quote that 20 or 30 dogs died on track this year, but the reality is that 562 dogs died within the industry just in Queensland.”
Brittan said he had been a vet for 30 years and had joined Greyhound Racing NSW, where he worked for about eight months, in the hope of improving the industry from the inside.
Things did not go to plan, with Brittan describing his tenure as “heartbreaking and devastating”.
“Heartbreaking on a personal level, devastating on a professional level,” he said.
“To become aware of the numbers of injured greyhounds and the numbers of dead greyhounds and the number of greyhounds that just aren’t getting rehomed every year and the seemingly unsolvable problem that this
is.”
While applauding the New Zealand ban, Coalition for the Protection of Greyhounds president Amy MacMahon said some Kiwis were using Australia to “skirt around” the new restrictions by flying greyhounds into Australia – including to Queensland.
Up to 150 greyhounds have already been flown across the Tasman, according to reports in New Zealand media.
“We know that at least one of those greyhounds has already had a major injury [in Australia],” MacMahon said.
“We’ve been calling for a ban on the export and import of racing greyhounds, so that these greyhounds aren’t just shipped off to another horror somewhere else.”
MacMahon said public acceptance of the sport was dwindling in Queensland.
“The Queensland government are feeling the pressure from all directions,” she said.
“They can see that now thousands of people have signed the petition, but we know that the greyhound and gambling industry is incredibly powerful, donating thousands of dollars to the LNP.”
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