MONEY behind a new advertising campaign fighting the greyhound ban should have been spent cleaning up the industry, member for Wagga Daryl Maguire has said.
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It comes as former federal member for the Riverina Kay Hull blasted the report which led to the ban as having “a lot of conjecture and not much fact”.
In early July, the state government announced greyhound racing would be banned from mid next year, citing evidence of “widespread cruelty”.
The decision has been met with outcry from those in the industry, who say it was based on the actions of a few bad eggs and will kill regional NSW economies.
The NSW Greyhound Racing Industry Alliance launched an extensive advertising campaign late last week, taking out ads on radio and regional newspapers, including The Daily Advertiser.
The advertisements plead for Premier Mike Baird to give the industry a fair go before going through with the ban next year.
But Mr Maguire has blasted the ad spend, questioning why the money wasn’t spent on weeding out practices like live baiting.
“It is a pity that the amount of effort that is going into the advertising and other activities weren’t put into getting rid of the people that have brought this on in the industry,” he said. “They would be in a lot better position today than they are.”
Wagga greyhound trainer and owner Adam Oliver said he was pleased to see the advertising campaign going ahead. The trainer of five years said it would help set the record straight over claims that live baiting is widespread.
“I’ve got a two-year-old greyhound bitch, she’s retired form racing and I’ve been trying the last few months to get her a new home,” Mr Oliver said.
“[I’m] trying to convince the public to take [her], because they think they’re dangerous dogs.”
Ms Hull, whose husband was president of the Wagga Greyhound Racing Club, welcomed a chance to rebut the report said the issue was becoming one of “city versus country”.
Mr Maguire should be prepared to hear counter arguments, she said.
“If the member for Wagga Wagga has looked at the report, and made his determinations based on the report, he also should be obliged to look at the rebuttal,” Ms Hull said.
“There is a significant amount of rebuttal that was required throughout that report.”