ipswichtrack

MID-1021-0543 - Greater Brisbane Greyhound Centre - Ipswich

Hidden

Email to*(Required)

Subject*(Required)

Email text*(Required)

Dear Minister

This is a submission in objection to the Ministerial Infrastructure Development Request MID-1021-0543 - Greater Brisbane Greyhound Centre.

I strongly object to this proposal for the reasons outlined below:

1. Animals suffer from greyhound racing
Racing Queensland claims this Greyhound Racing Centre has animal care at the centre of its design and construction.

However, the greyhound racing industry leads to thousands of dogs suffering and dying each year. This is because:

1.1 Only the fastest greyhounds are needed and the others are difficult to rehome.

• Racing Queensland’s Greyhound Adoption Program only saves a very small proportion of racing greyhounds. In 2020/21, of the 817 racing greyhounds reported by owners to the Queensland Racing Integrity Commission (QRIC) as retired, only 173 went to the Greyhound Adoption Program and 90 to other adoption programs. 
       • Greyhounds taken in by Animal Welfare League Queensland and other animal welfare and rescue groups often take many months of rehabilitation, having been kept in kennels for their whole lives. They have to be socialised with other pets and do many normal family activities.
       • Greyhound rehabilitation is costly and labour intensive. The industry does not contribute to the costs for community groups trying to save the lives of these greyhounds.
       • It is already impossible to adopt all of the greyhounds discarded so that the industry can maintain its purpose to generate the most profit from prize money and gambling. If the industry expands, which is the intention of the new centre, it will be catastrophic.

1.2 In 2020/21 in Queensland greyhound racing, on-track veterinarians reported 1308 injury incidents for the 1690 greyhounds who raced. 
53 greyhounds had catastrophic injuries resulting in death or euthanasia. There were 213 major injuries (16% of all injuries) involving significant muscle tears, bone fractures or other injuries resulting in greyhounds being off racing for up to 90 days or never racing again. A further 266 injuries (20% of injuries) including lacerations, sprains and muscle strains required up to 21 days off racing.

The greyhound industry claims this centre will set new standards for pre-race preparation and post-race recovery and different track designs. However, injuries will still occur. There are many other contributing factors to injury rates i.e. variations in weather, track maintenance, different greyhound breeds, physical abilities, and training patterns. Current changes in track curvature elsewhere in Australia only reduced catastrophic or major injury from 4.58 per 1000 race starts to 4.22 (8% reduction) The reduction in all types of injuries was 45 to 27 per 1000 race starts, a 40% reduction. The most common injuries are leg fractures. (Hossain, I., Eager, D & Walker, P. 2020.)

1.3 Racing greyhounds are often drugged with a range of banned substances which can have serious psychological and physical effects. The Sydney Morning Herald reported in 2018 that greyhounds test positive for drugs 10 times more than horses at races.

1.4 Greyhounds are also exported to other countries that have poor or no animal welfare protections and are also vulnerable to entering the dog meat trade.

Despite the Queensland Racing Integrity Commission being created to monitor and track the greyhound industry, after shocking evidence of widespread baiting using live animals such as rabbits and possums, mass greyhound graves, and drug use was revealed in 2015, the greyhound racing industry is still not fully transparent. The QRIC Annual Report does not state clearly how many greyhounds there are at different stages of their racing career in Queensland, along with their fate, to determine animal welfare progress. Separate quarterly reports provide some figures which are not all tallied for the year, which makes analysis difficult. The recommendation in The MacSporran Report that when a greyhound pup is registered the required registration fee should include a component for the future welfare of the dog has not been implemented six years after the inquiry. https://qric.qld.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Implementation-status-of-MacSporran-recommendations.pdf

2. Wildlife will suffer due to the location of the proposed Greater Brisbane Greyhound Centre
The proposed location contains a Koala habitat that is considered to be critical to the survival of the Koala. While Racing Qld claims its vegetation clearing will be minimised to include a very small portion of this area, it is not just the removal of these trees that will impact the survival of the koala. The site is mainly located in the terrestrial state biodiversity corridor which is connected via remnant and regrowth vegetation to the largest remaining continuous stretch of open eucalypt forest in SE Qld (DE 2021).

Koalas depend on extensive forest corridors to find sufficient food and roam safely sometimes many kilometres to find a mate. Racing dogs, loudspeakers, cars, crowds of people, and bright track lights 7 days a week will severely impact the capacity for koalas and other native wildlife in this corridor to survive.

It is also close to culturally significant areas and artifacts that are sacred to First Nations people.

3. Humans suffer from greyhound racing too.

More than a billion dollars was spent gambling on greyhound racing in Queensland in 2018 19. The majority of this betting occurred in Brisbane and Ipswich. (IER Pty Ltd, Size and Scope of the Qld Racing Industry Report, July 2000 pp 54, 55). The Qld Government Queensland Household Gambling Survey 2016-17 revealed that about 18 per cent of Queensland adults had bet on horse, harness or greyhound races.
The impacts of gambling are enormous on the individuals who gamble, their families and the whole community whose taxes fund the health system. The survey found that:

• Almost all problem gamblers (over 90 per cent) had experienced gambling-related health problems, and about three-quarters of them had experienced financial problems associated with their gambling during the previous year.
       • About 19 per cent of low-risk gamblers, 22 per cent of moderate-risk gamblers and 52 per cent of problem gamblers had felt seriously depressed in the last 12 months.
       • Almost half of all low risk, moderate risk and problem gamblers had gambled while under the influence of alcohol or other drugs.
       • Overall, about 7 per cent of Queensland adults had experienced emotional problems because of someone else’s gambling, 6 per cent had experienced financial problems and 5 per cent had experienced relationship problems.
       • About 14% of problem gamblers had experienced each of these kinds of problems because of someone else’s gambling.

4. Racing Queensland is seeking a Ministerial infrastructure designation (MID). A MID is for the delivery of essential community infrastructure, for example, hospitals, schools, police/ambulance/fire stations, power lines, water supply infrastructure and sewerage treatment plans. A greyhound racing track that imposes huge risks to both people and animals is clearly not an essential community infrastructure.

5. Racing Qld argues that this new racing track will create thousands of jobs and generate huge benefits for the region’s economy. However, the greyhound racing industry only directly provides about 216 full-time equivalent jobs in the Ipswich region (approx. one-third of the 650 full-time equivalent jobs created by horse, harness and greyhound racing in the region).

Less than 2% of the Brisbane and Ipswich regions population attended greyhound races in 2018/19. Only 216 people (less than .008% of these populations) were members of the Ipswich and Brisbane Greyhound Racing Clubs. (IER Pty Ltd, Size and Scope of the Qld Racing Industry Report, July 2000 p.47/48; 84/85).

The Queensland Government Queensland Household Gambling Survey 2016-17 revealed that gamblers were overall more likely to have placed bets on horse, harness or greyhound races at a club or hotel (37.7 per cent), a stand-alone TAB (31.0 per cent) and the internet, using a website or mobile app (28.2 per cent) in the previous year.

A $40 million racetrack in Ipswich will be an expensive filming studio to televise racing greyhounds for mainly online gamblers.

In summary, creating a new facility will only prolong an industry that is out of step with the majority of Australians who want governments to support the health and well-being of people and animals.

I, therefore, urge you to reject this proposal.

Your Email*(Required)

Your name*(Required)

Address(Required)

Address Suburb State Postcode/Zipcode

CAPTCHA