HON ALISON XAMON (North Metropolitan) [6.42 pm]: It was great to see so many animal welfare groups at Parliament yesterday and I want to make some overarching observations on the state of greyhounds, the greyhound racing industry in Western Australia and my concerns about the current regime, which I think continues to prioritise profit ahead of greyhound welfare.
Australia is one of only eight countries in the world which still has a commercial greyhound racing industry – and Australia’s is the biggest. A country of animal lovers, Australians were rightly shocked by 2016’s ABC Four Corners expose ‘Making a Killing’, which revealed many examples of illegal and unethical practices across the NSW industry. This included live baiting and horrifically high rates of ‘wastage’ – the mass killing of healthy dogs deemed not fast enough or otherwise unsuitable for racing.
