John MacDonald: I'm scratching my head over the greyhounds being scratched

I have never had a problem with greyhound racing so you’re not going to hear me singing the Government’s praises for banning the sport.  

But I am scratching my head. Because there are so many things about this move by the coalition that just don’t make sense to me.  

On one hand, the Government wants more people working, but it’s happy to see about 1,000 private sector jobs go down the gurgler within two years.  

It wants to grow the economy, but it’s happy to say goodbye to the $160 million the sport generates every year.  

The Government wants to rescue the greyhounds, but it’s happy for livestock to be stuck in a crate and shipped overseas.  

Not to mention the fact that horse racing and rodeos are fine, but dogs chasing a lure around the racetrack is a no-no.  

Here’s another one: the Government wants to rescue the dogs, but is happy to spend less on school lunches.    

See what I mean? It makes absolutely no sense to me. And that’s not just because I’ve never been concerned about greyhound racing.   

What this is, is a left-field move by a right-leaning government which I thought Winston Peters did a pretty good job of announcing yesterday. Considering he’s like me and doesn’t seem to have much of a problem with the sport.  

Here’s what he said to a select committee earlier this year: "Dogs love racing. Just like horses. Three o'clock in the morning, everybody's quiet and they're out there having a race in the paddock.  

"So before we rush off, there are certain instinctive things that animals like, and one of them they will do whether you're going to organise the race or not."  

So with so many unanswered questions, this is when the conspiracy theories start to emerge. Especially when you consider that the greyhound racing people themselves had just one hour’s notice before yesterday’s announcement. 

So here are a couple of my theories: Winston Peters has done a deal with Cabinet to get more government money pumped into the horse racing industry, in exchange for banning dog racing.  

The only potential fly in the ointment with that theory is that some people think this greyhound thing is the so-called thin edge of the wedge and horse racing will be next on the chopping block.  

But as long as Winston Peters is breathing, I don’t think we’ll see that happening. And that could be a long time because Winston is the Keith Richards of New Zealand politics, isn’t he?   

Another theory of mine as to why this all came so quickly and out of the blue, is that the Government wanted something to keep the greenies happy when it looks like its new ferries aren’t going to be capable of carrying trains.   

That might be stretching it a bit, but see what I mean? When a government does something like this, which doesn’t really marry-up to its general way of thinking, we all start to wonder what’s really behind it.  

The reaction so far has been at both ends of the spectrum, as you would expect. The greyhound racing people say they are devastated. The SPCA people say they’re ecstatic.  

Edward Rennell is chief executive of Greyhound Racing New Zealand. He got the phone call 45 minutes before yesterday’s announcement.  

He says the greyhound racing of today is different to the greyhound racing of yesterday.  

Yes, 13 dogs died last race season from injuries, but, according to the saving animals people themselves, more racing horses die each year.  

And yes, greyhounds probably do have a much more comfortable life when they’re re-homed with humans than they do when they’re racing.  

But their animals for goodness sake. And I can’t help feeling that the Government has taken its eye off the ball with this decision.  

Especially a government that ban

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Canterbury Morning's Podcast with John McDonald
from News Talk ZB.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Do you know I have never had a problem with
greyhound racing. I've never had a problem with it, which
means you're not going to hear me singing the government's
praises today for wanting to ban the sport. In fact,
it's not even just wanting to ban it. Says it's
going to ban it. But I am scratching my head
because there are so many things about this move by
the coalition government that don't make sense to me. On

(00:37):
one hand, you got the government wanting more people working,
but it's happy to see about one thousand private sector
jobs go down the gurglar within two years. It wants
to grow the economy, but it's happy to say goodbye
to the one hundred and sixty million dollars the sport
generates every year, one hundred and sixty million every year.

(00:58):
The government wants to rescue the greyhounds, but it's happy
for livestock to be stuck in a crate and shipped overseas.
Not to mention the fact that horse racing and radeo oh,
they're fine, but dogs chasing a bit of fur around
the racetrack. No way, here's another one. The government wants

(01:19):
to rescue the dogs but is happy to spend less
on school lunches. See what I mean. It makes absolutely
no sense to me. And that's not just because I've
never been concerned about greyhound racing. It just doesn't stack up.
I mean what this is. It's a left field move

(01:42):
by a right leaning government, which I thought, by the way,
Winston Peters did a pretty good job of announcing yesterday,
considering he's like me, and considering he doesn't seem to
have much of a problem with greyhound racing either. He's
got a history of speaking in favor Robert. He said
this to a Select committee earlier this year. Quote dogs

(02:03):
love racing just like horses, he said to the Select committee.
Three o'clock in the morning. Everybody's quiet and they're out
there having a race in the paddock. So before we
rush off. There are certain instinctive things that animals like,
and one of them they will do, whether you're going
to organize it or not, is race. It was Winston

(02:23):
Peter's just a few months back at a Parliamentary select committee.
So with so many of these unanswered questions, This is
when you get conspiracy theories starting to emerge, especially when
you consider that the greyhound racing people themselves had only
what forty five minutes or an hour's notice before yesterday's announcement.

(02:45):
So let me furnish you with a couple of my theories.
Here's one, Winston Peters has done a deal with Cabinet
to get more government money pumped into the horse racing
industry in exchange for banning dog racing. Now, the only
potential fly in the ointment with that theory is that
some people think this greyhound ban is the so called

(03:06):
thin edge of the wedge and the horse racing will
be next on the chopping block. But I'll tell you what.
I'll tell you this, As long as Winston Peters is breathing,
I don't think we'll see that happening. It could be
a long time because win Ston Peter's he's the He's
the Keith Richards of New Zealand politics, isn't he? He's
not going anywhere. Another fairy of mine as to why

(03:28):
this all came so quickly and out of the blue,
is the government wanted something to keep the Greenies happy
when it looks like it's new fairies aren't going to
be capable of carrying trains. Now, that might be stretching
it a bit, but see what I mean. So what
I mean when a government does something like this which
doesn't really marry up to its general way of thinking, well,

(03:48):
we all start to wonder what's really behind this, what
the hell's going on here? As you would expect, the
reaction and as you've probably heard, the reaction so far
has been at both ends of the spectrum. The greyhound
racing people say they're devastated. The SPCA people say they're ecstatic.
Edward Ronelle as chief executive of Greyhound Racing New Zealand.

(04:09):
He got the phone call forty five minutes before yesterday's announcement.
He spoke to hear the earlier this morning about it,
saying that the greyhound racing of today is different to
the greyhound racing of yesterday.

Speaker 3 (04:22):
I think this a hell of a lot of misinformation
out there in terms of grayhand racing. Clearly, we owe
it to the thousand and fifty four people that we
need to outline exactly the steps we're taken. And we're
not talking about grayhund racing ten years ago. We're talking
about the present, and I believe the wealthier standards we
have in faced appropriate to maintain a social license to race.

Speaker 2 (04:47):
So I can't agree. I can't argue with that, But
as I say, the thing for me is that I
am more confused than anything else. Yes, thirteen dogs and
I had last race season from injuries, but according to
the Saving Animals people themselves more racing horses each year,

(05:08):
and yep, greyhounds probably do have a much more comfortable
life when they're rehomed with humans than they do when
they're racing. But this is what it comes down to
for me. They're animals, for goodness sake, animals, and I
can't help feeling that the government has taken its eye
off the ball with this decision, especially a government, a
government that bangs on all the time about dealing with

(05:30):
the cost of living crisis, bangs on about growing the economy,
getting more people into work, and sorting out the education system.
This decision to end greyhound racing makes absolutely no sense
to me at all.

Speaker 1 (05:45):
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