Mike Baird Is Getting Ready To Backflip On His Greyhound Racing Ban, According To Reports

The NSW Government has copped a lot of flack over the last couple of years. Lockout laws, privatisations and council mergers have all combined to take the shine off Premier Mike Baird. His approval rating has recently collapsed to record lows.

But back in August the Baird government did an actual good thing. Facing stiff opposition from the racing industry, the gambling lobby and the NSW Labor party, Baird outlawed greyhound racing. The ban came after a special inquiry that found:

• In the last 12 years somewhere between 48,891 and 68,448 dogs were killed in NSW because they were considered too slow to pay their way or were unsuitable for racing.
• The practice of live-baiting, where live animals are used as bait to be chased by dogs in training sessions, was widespread.
• The culture of the industry was so problematic it was not able to be reformed.

At the time Baird wrote a heartfelt Facebook post explaining the decision.

Since the ban was introduced the NSW government has faced a barrage of criticism from sections of the media, including The Daily Telegraph and radio shock joke Alan Jones. They’ve been calling for the ban to be reversed.

Up until now Baird has stuck by his policy. After all, the legislation enacting the racing ban only passed parliament at the end August. It would be totally unprecedented for a government to introduce another set of legislation, reversing a law they only just passed.

But because this is NSW and our political system is completely broken, nonsensical manoeuvres like this happen far too often. According to reports in today’s The Daily Telegraph, the NSW government is apparently about to backflip and announce that greyhound racing will be legalised again.

According to the report the government will announce this week that the ban, which hadn’t even taken effect yet, will be lifted and a number of new, strict guidelines would be introduced to stop “wastage” (the euphemistic term for when greyhound trainers kill their dogs). Meanwhile, a government taskforce keeps digging up mass greyhound graves and finding more evidence of cruelty within the industry.

It’s hard to see how Baird will have any credibility left if he does reverse the ban. He’s spent the past few months defending it and he’s spent millions running TV ads arguing the ban was necessary. If the government actually does backflip and re-legalise greyhound racing it will prove that the state really is run by tabloid newspapers and conservative radio hosts.

What an exciting time to live in NSW.