Greyhound inquiry calls for cap on breeding

A long-awaited report into Greyhound Racing NSW has recommended a cap on greyhound breeding and an end to a US export program, and identified “significant governance and operational failures” with the organisation under its former management.

The report found a flagship program to rehome ex-racing greyhounds to the US was “distressing and sometimes fatal” for the dogs, and identified significant issues with workplace culture in the industry.

The findings were the result of an inquiry led by the former head of integrity at the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission Lea Drake.

In response to the report, GRNSW will be issued with a new operating licence by the state government legally requiring the industry to clean up animal welfare issues and improve oversight over greyhound rehoming.

GRNSW must improve reporting on greyhound rehoming data, improve reporting to the industry regulator the Greyhound Welfare Integrity Commission (GWIC) on greyhound deaths from unknown causes, and ensure all clubs implement updated minimum track standards.

The industry must also introduce policies to improve workplace culture and governance after multiple former employees alleged failures within GRNSW around recruitment and human resources.

GWIC was on Tuesday issued a direction from Gaming and Racing Minister David Harris to improve transparency around track safety, rehoming and injuries to greyhounds and publish reports on catastrophic injuries on a per-track basis.

Despite the report calling for an end to the program exporting dogs to the US, the government will instead require the industry to prioritise domestic rehoming “where possible”.

The regulator must also develop standards for kennels and rehoming facilities, analyse breeding and whelping rates to “support a sustainable industry” and review euthanasia policies. The government’s response did not say whether the review would lead to a cap on breeding, as the report recommends.

These measures must be acted on by June 2026.

“Greyhound racing is an important industry across our state, especially in regional and rural communities where it provides jobs for many people and makes a major economic contribution,” Harris said.

“The government is committed to ensuring the NSW greyhound racing industry is competitive, responsible and sustainable with the highest standards of governance, animal welfare and integrity.”

Animal Justice MP Emma Hurst, who has long called for a ban to greyhound racing, said the government response did not go far enough.

“The government’s response to the report is abysmal and gives no comfort to the community who want to stop seeing dogs killed by the greyhound racing industry for gambling profits,” she said.

The report was handed down as the government announced greyhound racing will disappear from inner Sydney, after it decided not to renew the NSW Greyhound Breeders Owners and Trainers Association’s lease at Wentworth Park. Instead, the site will become sporting fields and public space to allow for the surrounding area to be rezoned for an extra 2000 homes.

Harris said the government had been in discussions with the industry about the future of Wentworth Park but GRNSW chief executive Steve Griffin told ABC radio on Tuesday “that’s just not true”.

Griffin’s comment has angered the NSW government, which insists talks were held before the decision was made.

This masthead has obtained an email sent by Griffin to the premier’s office on September 9 in which he discusses a meeting the parties held the previous week about Wentworth Park.

On Tuesday morning, Griffin said a $10 million funding package from the government to pay for track upgrades elsewhere was “paltry”, and called for more compensation to develop a new metropolitan racing precinct.

Griffin said the racing body supported the government’s response to the Drake report, but he dismissed the recommendations to cap breeding numbers and overseas exports as “not substantiated with good evidence”.

The report found six greyhounds had died while in overseas transit or while in preparation for export to the US, of 1397 dogs rehomed in the program. That’s a fatality rate of 0.43 per cent, 10 times higher than the industry’s target catastrophic injury rate.

“Greyhounds and pets die every day, and we obviously want to minimise that,” Griffin said. “The actual deaths in these programs are very small.”

The racing industry was given a lifeline in 2016 when then-Liberal premier Mike Baird reversed a decision to shut it down following revelations of mass greyhound killings and live baiting.

The Drake report found the governance practices of GRNSW were not appropriate, and highlighted deficiencies in GRNSW’s financial management and procurement practices. Former chief executive Tony Mestrov, who went on to be CEO of NRL team Manly Sea Eagles, was singled out over failures in procurement processes.

Drake was also critical of the recruitment practices undertaken by Mestrov’s successor Rob Macauley. The report found the culture under Mestrov had been “reasonably positive” but deteriorated during Macauley’s tenure from 2022 to 2024 and was “poor”.

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