The Independent Member for Denison, Andrew Wilkie, has commented on the shocking revelations on 7:30 last night of more widespread cruelty in the greyhound racing industry.
“First of all we saw earlier this year that the abhorrent practice of live baiting was commonplace in the greyhound racing industry. And now we see revelations on ABC’s 7:30 last night that hundreds of dogs are being exported to Asia where they have to live the rest of their lives in appalling conditions, all because they couldn’t run fast enough in Australia,” Mr Wilkie said.
“Surely we now have all the proof we need that the greyhound racing industry is cruel and must be shut down immediately.
“The Federal Government needs to act. The Minister for Agriculture obviously has a keen interest in dogs and must shut down the greyhound industry. If he won’t do that then he at least must amend the Export Control Act to stop the export of greyhounds without appropriate safeguards being in place.
“State governments also need to cease their generous handouts to the greyhound racing industry. It’s one thing to turn a blind eye to this cruel and barbaric $4 billion a year industry, but another altogether to prop it up with millions of dollars of taxpayer funds.
“If the Federal Government genuinely cared about improving animal welfare they would have shut this industry down a long time ago. Let’s hope that the Federal Minister listens to the enormous public outcry this time and acts immediately to end the cruelty.”
Independent Member for Denison Andrew Wilkie
