The New South Wales minister responsible for greyhound racing has threatened to sack the industry’s governing board over its alleged failure to properly manage a series of complaints over how it operates and other matters.
Guardian Australia understands the racing minister, David Harris, issued a show cause notice to the Greyhound Racing NSW board on the grounds it had breached the terms of its operating licence, as the sector faces criticism over rising dog injuries and its adoption programs.
The licence stipulates it must disclose immediately to the minister anything that brings the board and industry into disrepute. GRNSW and Harris both declined to comment.
The development comes after the industry body on Wednesday ran a series of full-page newspaper advertisements claiming 2023-24 was “our best year ever”, which animal welfare advocates claimed amounted to “damage control”.
Following reports overnight the minister had issued a show cause notice, GRNSW issued another statement on Thursday celebrating its “collective triumph” in rehoming a record 2,806 racing greyhounds in 2023-24.
Animal welfare advocates said the advertisement on Wednesday showed the industry was under pressure and was an effort to distract from rising dog injuries and claims of mismanagement in the racing sector.
Lisa Ryan, a spokesperson for Animal Liberation, called the advertisement “a desperate attempt by an industry on its knees to try and shift the focus”.
The racing body’s adoption efforts have come under recent scrutiny after media reports of alleged injuries to greyhounds at a rehoming facility in Wyee and dogs being rehomed in the United States despite their alleged unsuitability for export.
Harris is due to receive a report on the alleged injuries at Wyee from the government’s independent industry watchdog on Friday.
GRNSW also hailed its “zero unnecessary euthanasia” policy and a record low number of greyhound deaths at racetracks as major achievements of the year in the advertisement, which ran in the Daily Telegraph, Sydney Morning Herald and some regional newspapers.
According to statistics from the racing body, 22 greyhounds died or were euthanised at race tracks in 2023-24, including 10 since January this year, compared with 66 in 2022-23. In 2017-18, Greyhound Racing NSW recorded 140 track deaths.
The Animal Justice party upper house MP Emma Hurst said that “to claim there has been no ‘unnecessary’ deaths completely ignores the tragedy” of the greyhounds “killed by this industry”.
“This ad is … damage control after a shocking start to the year for Greyhound Racing NSW,” Hurst said.
Injury rates have reached their highest point since independent reporting began in 2018, according to the Greyhound Welfare and Integrity Commission (GWIC), which recorded more than 40 injuries per 1,000 race starts in the first three-quarters of 2023-24, compared with fewer than 30 in 2020-21.
Total injuries sustained by dogs have continued to rise, with 4,321 injuries recorded in 2023-24 compared with 3,988 in 2022-23, according to data collated by advocacy group Coalition for the Protection of Greyhounds.
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“The truth that the greyhound industry does not want the public to hear is that over 2,000 greyhounds have been injured in NSW this year, more than anywhere else in the country,” Hurst said. The advertisement did not detail rates of injury but noted the “improved safety and welfare” of dogs and “record investment in track safety”.
Greyhound Racing NSW defended its record, saying the industry had achieved a historic low mortality rate and provided economic benefit to the state.
“There has been a 67% reduction in track mortality rates over the past year,,” a spokesperson said, pointing to the success of the organisation’s care programs.
Because the industry was “a major contributor to the NSW economy”, the spokesperson said it was “vital to ensure that significant milestones and achievements are placed on the public record for the benefit of the community and the thousands of industry participants who contribute to its success”.
The body was “very proud to deliver the best year in NSW greyhound racing history on several vital welfare and sustainability measures”, they said.
Hurst said Harris’s reported show cause notice to the board “exposes the extent of issues within the greyhound racing industry” but “it simply won’t be enough”.
Hurst, who has called for an upper house inquiry into the sector, said her office was drafting legislation to give the minister further powers over the industry, including to remove the GRNSW chief.
Harris on Wednesday said the government was committed to supporting “competitive, responsible and sustainable” greyhound racing industry with the highest standards of animal welfare.