August 14, 2025 • 12 mins
Today, we’re talking about greyhound racing. Specifically, whether or not there is a movement for it to be banned.
Earlier this week, the Tasmanian Government announced it will ban greyhound racing in the next five years. The state cited concerns about animal welfare and declining viewership as key factors in the decision. And just yesterday, new costing analysis suggested that Victoria could actually save hundreds of millions of dollars if they were to also follow suit. Today we're breaking it all down.
Hosts: Billi FitzSimons and Sam Koslowski
Producer: Orla Maher
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Already and this is the Daily This is the Daily OS. Oh,
now it makes sense. Good morning, and welcome to the
Daily OS. It's Friday, the fifteenth of August. I'm Billy
fitz Simon's.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
I'm Sam Kazlowski.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Today we are talking about greyhound racing, specifically whether or
not there is a movement for it to be banned.
Earlier this week, the Tasmanian government announced it will ban
greyhound racing in the next five years. The state cited
concerns about animal welfare and declining viewership as key factors
in the decision, and just yesterday, new costing analysis suggested
(00:43):
that Victoria could actually save hundreds of millions of dollars
if they were also to follow suit.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
But will that happen? Today?
Speaker 1 (00:52):
We will tell you everything you need to know.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
So, Billy, over the last couple of years, I feel
like greyhound racing regulation has come up relatively in a
state based context, or a state and territory based context.
Here give me a sense of the state of play
across the country.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Yeah, so, I have to admit I actually didn't know
too much about this before I did this research, and
I was quite surprised to learn that Australia is actually
only one of four countries in the world where commercial
greyhound racing still takes place. And the last time we
reported on this was basically this time last year, and
(01:31):
then it was seven countries that were still doing commercial
greyhound racing and since the past year it has gone
down to four. Now it is legal in basically all
of Australia except for the Act, and as I just
mentioned in the intro, it's about to also be banned
in Tasmania.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
And in terms of the global greyhound racing landscape, where
does Australia sit in terms of the size of that industry, Well.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Australia actually has the largest to commercial greyhound industry in
the world, so that's according to analysis, and I would
say it's very popular in Australia amongst regional communities, that's
where it's most popular. I try to find a national number,
but I couldn't quite find it. In terms of how
much revenue it's generating or how much it's contributing to
(02:19):
the economy in Australia, I couldn't find a national number,
but I did find a number just for New South
Wales where it is very popular. And so in twenty
twenty three, greyhound racing contributed about six hundred and fifty
million dollars to the economy just in New South Wales
just in that one year.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
And is that mainly from gambling revenue that's associated with.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
It, gambling revenue, from the jobs that it creates for
the economy, from the prize money that it also has.
There are a whole different range of things in terms
of how it's contributing to the economy, but it is
a really big industry. I also think it's fair to
say that the industry is quite controversial in particular, but
there are concerns around animal welfare. That's also not unique
(03:04):
to greyhound racing. You know, we also have horse racing
where there are also animal welfare concerns and also with
both of those their association with the gambling industry, and
also questions over whether the racing bodies are adequately regulated.
But as of the past few weeks, there is a
(03:24):
lot more conversation about the greyhound industry in particular and
whether or not it should be banned.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
And all of this is being brought into the news
cycle in the last couple of days with Tasmania's announcement
and that's interesting because we have talked about Tasmania and
its government in the last couple of weeks on this
podcast because of the uncertainty that was associated with their
recent election. So there's a new premier who's the old premier,
(03:52):
but he's back again for another term. And one of
the first things he announced was relating to greyhound racing.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Yeah, that is important context and it's so confusing to follow.
But yes, like you said, Sam, Tasmania does have the Premier,
Jeremy Rockcliffe, who has become premier again. Very confusing because
he doesn't actually have enough support to form government.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
But such a funny situation.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Such a funny situation. But like you said, what's important
to know is that as of earlier this week, he
has announced that Tasmania will phase out greyhound racing by
twenty twenty nine. So in opposed to Facebook, Rockliffe said
that animal welfare and declining participation in the sport contributed
to the government's decision. I'll read out one quote from him.
(04:34):
He said, I know there are many participants in the
industry who care for their animals who will be extremely
disappointed by this decision.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
So he kind of assumes office. He is the premier
of an uncertain government and one of his first things
he does is announces on Facebook this ban. I noticed
you said twenty twenty nine. Why is that so long away?
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Yeah, that was my first question as well. And it's
actually because of a pre existing contract. So TAZ Racing
is the body that manages the racing industry in Tasmania
and that includes horse racing as well and greyhound racing,
and they have a funding arrangement with the government which
(05:18):
was signed back in two thousand and nine and it
was a twenty year deal, so it doesn't expire until
twenty twenty nine. And I believe they say in the
business world that a deal is a deal. Deal is
a deal, A deal is a deal, and that's exactly
why we have to wait five years for this to happen.
According to a report conducted by welfare advocacy organizations, Greyhound
(05:42):
Racing received about seventy five million dollars from TAZ Racing
or from the government over the past fifteen years since
this agreement has been in place.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
So, just to get it clear, the government in Tasmania
is essentially kind of subsidizing the industry. Yes, and I
assume the industry would be arguing back in two thousand
and nine at least that they need the funding to
prop up local jobs and to kind of grow a
part of the economy there. So what has the reaction
been from that industry.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Yeah, from a lot of stakeholders within the greyhound racing industry,
they have expressed their disappointment at this announcement. Like I
said before, this industry creates a lot of jobs, it
contributes to the economy, and so for a lot of
people whose lives are really all about greyhound racing, you
can imagine that this is a disappointing announcement for them.
(06:33):
From TAS Racing themselves, they didn't actually say that much
in their response. They basically just said that they note
the announcement and that they will engage with relevant stakeholders
to make sure that there is an appropriate phasing out
of this.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
And as you said in reading out the comments from
their premiere with the announcement, the core argument here is
about animal welfare, and so I'm keen to understand then
what the reaction there's been from the other side of
this debate to industry, which is animal welfare organizations.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Well, as you can imagine. I mean, many of these
organizations have been advocating for this band to take place
for years and years, and so from somewhere like RSPCA Tasmania,
they really celebrated this news and said that this is
because of all of the advocacy that has taken place
over the past many many years. Sure, and they used
this announcement to urge other governments. This is a quote
(07:28):
from them, to treat this moment as a turning point
and to speak in favor of ending greyhound racing once
and for all.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
And I think the big unseid thing in this discussion, Billy,
is the fact that, you know, we've got the ACT
and Tasmania, they're relatively small economies in the scope of
comparing it to other states in Australia, like that New
South Wales number you mentioned at the top. Is there
any indication from the other states, particularly those larger economies,
that they'll follow suit here.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Yeah, well, just yesterday there were reports out of Victoria
that the government could actually save money if it phases
out greyhound racing.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
So talk me through that argument then.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Yeah. So the Parliamentary Budget Office, which is just a
government agency that you know, any politician can go to
and say if this policy was introduced to how would
that impact the economy? The modeling yes, and so it
was Independent MP Georgie Purcell who asked the Parliamentary Budget
Office to do the costings on if the Victorian government
(08:29):
was to ban greyhound racing, and it found that it
would save about four hundred and fifty million dollars over
a ten year period.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
So that's a strong economic argument. But walk me through
the numbers there, like, how does that actually work out?
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Okay, it's going to get a little bit massive, but
stay with me. So it's because it would mean that
the government would stop its partial funding of the industry.
So remember how I said, just like in Tasmania, the
government there partly subsidizes the industry, it's the exact same
in Victoria. And so it's estimated that if greyhound racing
(09:04):
was to be banned in Victoria that the government would
decrease their expenses over a ten year period buy about
seven hundred million dollars. However, on the flip side of that,
they would also lose revenue of about two hundred and
fifty million dollars, and that is revenue that they earn
from people betting on the industry.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Right, So the framework that sits behind that comment is
this idea that gambling companies in Australia they would pay
taxes to the government. Yes, they would pay levees and
different fees that they're applied to the industry. That bucket
of money would decrease if greyhound racing was taken out
of play exactly.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
So ultimately the government would lose about two hundred and
fifty million dollars in lost revenue, but they would actually
also save about seven hundred million dollars and so the
net gain would be four hundred and fifty million dollars.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
That was very mathematically sound explanations. Okay, so this costing
has been done by an independent MP in Victoria. Has
the Victorian government responded though to this model.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
No, so this only happened yesterday, but at the time
of recording, the Victorian government has not responded to that
costing analysis. But they certainly have showed no indication that
they are wanting to ban greyhound racing. The other states
where greyhound racing is really popular is Queensland and New
South Wales. It's really a thing for the eastern states
(10:30):
of Australia, where it's most popular, and again neither of
those state governments have indicated any desire to ban greyhound racing.
The one last jurisdiction I wanted to mention before we
leave at SAM was New Zealand. They actually have banned
greyhound racing and it was only very recently. It was
in December of last year. So I think it does
(10:52):
show that there is slowly kind of this movement to
ban it.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Billy. I feel like this is one of these stories
that has a pretty regular cadence in the news cycle,
at least since we've started reporting the news every day
here at TVA, where there seems to be these key moments.
And I remember one key moment was a groundbreaking four
Corners episode produced by the ABC. I remember us talking
about the Act ban. Now we're here talking about Tasmania.
(11:19):
It definitely feels like the gaps between those developments are
getting a bit shorter. Yeah, and it'll be really interesting
to see if there is more movement and more rapid
movement in this area.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Yeah, so interesting.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Thanks so much for explaining that to us, and thank
you for joining us on the Daily ODS this morning.
I hope you've enjoyed this week of content. It's been
a super busy week of news. We're going to be
back in your ears for the Friday afternoon headlines. Until then,
have a wonderful start to your Friday. We'll chat to
you later. My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a
(11:51):
proud Arunda Bunjelung Kalkuttin woman from Gadigo Country. The Daily
oz acknowledges that this podcast is recorded on the lands
of the gag and pays respect to all Aboriginal and
Torrestrate island and nations. We pay our respects to the
first peoples of these countries, both past and present.
Already and this is the Daily This is the Daily OS. Oh,
now it makes sense. Good morning, and welcome to the
Daily OS. It's Friday, the fifteenth of August. I'm Billy
fitz Simon's.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
I'm Sam Kazlowski.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Today we are talking about greyhound racing, specifically whether or
not there is a movement for it to be banned.
Earlier this week, the Tasmanian government announced it will ban
greyhound racing in the next five years. The state cited
concerns about animal welfare and declining viewership as key factors
in the decision, and just yesterday, new costing analysis suggested
(00:43):
that Victoria could actually save hundreds of millions of dollars
if they were also to follow suit.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
But will that happen? Today?
Speaker 1 (00:52):
We will tell you everything you need to know.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
So, Billy, over the last couple of years, I feel
like greyhound racing regulation has come up relatively in a
state based context, or a state and territory based context.
Here give me a sense of the state of play
across the country.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Yeah, so, I have to admit I actually didn't know
too much about this before I did this research, and
I was quite surprised to learn that Australia is actually
only one of four countries in the world where commercial
greyhound racing still takes place. And the last time we
reported on this was basically this time last year, and
(01:31):
then it was seven countries that were still doing commercial
greyhound racing and since the past year it has gone
down to four. Now it is legal in basically all
of Australia except for the Act, and as I just
mentioned in the intro, it's about to also be banned
in Tasmania.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
And in terms of the global greyhound racing landscape, where
does Australia sit in terms of the size of that industry, Well.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Australia actually has the largest to commercial greyhound industry in
the world, so that's according to analysis, and I would
say it's very popular in Australia amongst regional communities, that's
where it's most popular. I try to find a national number,
but I couldn't quite find it. In terms of how
much revenue it's generating or how much it's contributing to
(02:19):
the economy in Australia, I couldn't find a national number,
but I did find a number just for New South
Wales where it is very popular. And so in twenty
twenty three, greyhound racing contributed about six hundred and fifty
million dollars to the economy just in New South Wales
just in that one year.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
And is that mainly from gambling revenue that's associated with.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
It, gambling revenue, from the jobs that it creates for
the economy, from the prize money that it also has.
There are a whole different range of things in terms
of how it's contributing to the economy, but it is
a really big industry. I also think it's fair to
say that the industry is quite controversial in particular, but
there are concerns around animal welfare. That's also not unique
(03:04):
to greyhound racing. You know, we also have horse racing
where there are also animal welfare concerns and also with
both of those their association with the gambling industry, and
also questions over whether the racing bodies are adequately regulated.
But as of the past few weeks, there is a
(03:24):
lot more conversation about the greyhound industry in particular and
whether or not it should be banned.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
And all of this is being brought into the news
cycle in the last couple of days with Tasmania's announcement
and that's interesting because we have talked about Tasmania and
its government in the last couple of weeks on this
podcast because of the uncertainty that was associated with their
recent election. So there's a new premier who's the old premier,
(03:52):
but he's back again for another term. And one of
the first things he announced was relating to greyhound racing.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Yeah, that is important context and it's so confusing to follow.
But yes, like you said, Sam, Tasmania does have the Premier,
Jeremy Rockcliffe, who has become premier again. Very confusing because
he doesn't actually have enough support to form government.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
But such a funny situation.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Such a funny situation. But like you said, what's important
to know is that as of earlier this week, he
has announced that Tasmania will phase out greyhound racing by
twenty twenty nine. So in opposed to Facebook, Rockliffe said
that animal welfare and declining participation in the sport contributed
to the government's decision. I'll read out one quote from him.
(04:34):
He said, I know there are many participants in the
industry who care for their animals who will be extremely
disappointed by this decision.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
So he kind of assumes office. He is the premier
of an uncertain government and one of his first things
he does is announces on Facebook this ban. I noticed
you said twenty twenty nine. Why is that so long away?
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Yeah, that was my first question as well. And it's
actually because of a pre existing contract. So TAZ Racing
is the body that manages the racing industry in Tasmania
and that includes horse racing as well and greyhound racing,
and they have a funding arrangement with the government which
(05:18):
was signed back in two thousand and nine and it
was a twenty year deal, so it doesn't expire until
twenty twenty nine. And I believe they say in the
business world that a deal is a deal. Deal is
a deal, A deal is a deal, and that's exactly
why we have to wait five years for this to happen.
According to a report conducted by welfare advocacy organizations, Greyhound
(05:42):
Racing received about seventy five million dollars from TAZ Racing
or from the government over the past fifteen years since
this agreement has been in place.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
So, just to get it clear, the government in Tasmania
is essentially kind of subsidizing the industry. Yes, and I
assume the industry would be arguing back in two thousand
and nine at least that they need the funding to
prop up local jobs and to kind of grow a
part of the economy there. So what has the reaction
been from that industry.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Yeah, from a lot of stakeholders within the greyhound racing industry,
they have expressed their disappointment at this announcement. Like I
said before, this industry creates a lot of jobs, it
contributes to the economy, and so for a lot of
people whose lives are really all about greyhound racing, you
can imagine that this is a disappointing announcement for them.
(06:33):
From TAS Racing themselves, they didn't actually say that much
in their response. They basically just said that they note
the announcement and that they will engage with relevant stakeholders
to make sure that there is an appropriate phasing out
of this.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
And as you said in reading out the comments from
their premiere with the announcement, the core argument here is
about animal welfare, and so I'm keen to understand then
what the reaction there's been from the other side of
this debate to industry, which is animal welfare organizations.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Well, as you can imagine. I mean, many of these
organizations have been advocating for this band to take place
for years and years, and so from somewhere like RSPCA Tasmania,
they really celebrated this news and said that this is
because of all of the advocacy that has taken place
over the past many many years. Sure, and they used
this announcement to urge other governments. This is a quote
(07:28):
from them, to treat this moment as a turning point
and to speak in favor of ending greyhound racing once
and for all.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
And I think the big unseid thing in this discussion, Billy,
is the fact that, you know, we've got the ACT
and Tasmania, they're relatively small economies in the scope of
comparing it to other states in Australia, like that New
South Wales number you mentioned at the top. Is there
any indication from the other states, particularly those larger economies,
that they'll follow suit here.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Yeah, well, just yesterday there were reports out of Victoria
that the government could actually save money if it phases
out greyhound racing.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
So talk me through that argument then.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Yeah. So the Parliamentary Budget Office, which is just a
government agency that you know, any politician can go to
and say if this policy was introduced to how would
that impact the economy? The modeling yes, and so it
was Independent MP Georgie Purcell who asked the Parliamentary Budget
Office to do the costings on if the Victorian government
(08:29):
was to ban greyhound racing, and it found that it
would save about four hundred and fifty million dollars over
a ten year period.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
So that's a strong economic argument. But walk me through
the numbers there, like, how does that actually work out?
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Okay, it's going to get a little bit massive, but
stay with me. So it's because it would mean that
the government would stop its partial funding of the industry.
So remember how I said, just like in Tasmania, the
government there partly subsidizes the industry, it's the exact same
in Victoria. And so it's estimated that if greyhound racing
(09:04):
was to be banned in Victoria that the government would
decrease their expenses over a ten year period buy about
seven hundred million dollars. However, on the flip side of that,
they would also lose revenue of about two hundred and
fifty million dollars, and that is revenue that they earn
from people betting on the industry.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Right, So the framework that sits behind that comment is
this idea that gambling companies in Australia they would pay
taxes to the government. Yes, they would pay levees and
different fees that they're applied to the industry. That bucket
of money would decrease if greyhound racing was taken out
of play exactly.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
So ultimately the government would lose about two hundred and
fifty million dollars in lost revenue, but they would actually
also save about seven hundred million dollars and so the
net gain would be four hundred and fifty million dollars.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
That was very mathematically sound explanations. Okay, so this costing
has been done by an independent MP in Victoria. Has
the Victorian government responded though to this model.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
No, so this only happened yesterday, but at the time
of recording, the Victorian government has not responded to that
costing analysis. But they certainly have showed no indication that
they are wanting to ban greyhound racing. The other states
where greyhound racing is really popular is Queensland and New
South Wales. It's really a thing for the eastern states
(10:30):
of Australia, where it's most popular, and again neither of
those state governments have indicated any desire to ban greyhound racing.
The one last jurisdiction I wanted to mention before we
leave at SAM was New Zealand. They actually have banned
greyhound racing and it was only very recently. It was
in December of last year. So I think it does
(10:52):
show that there is slowly kind of this movement to
ban it.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Billy. I feel like this is one of these stories
that has a pretty regular cadence in the news cycle,
at least since we've started reporting the news every day
here at TVA, where there seems to be these key moments.
And I remember one key moment was a groundbreaking four
Corners episode produced by the ABC. I remember us talking
about the Act ban. Now we're here talking about Tasmania.
(11:19):
It definitely feels like the gaps between those developments are
getting a bit shorter. Yeah, and it'll be really interesting
to see if there is more movement and more rapid
movement in this area.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Yeah, so interesting.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Thanks so much for explaining that to us, and thank
you for joining us on the Daily ODS this morning.
I hope you've enjoyed this week of content. It's been
a super busy week of news. We're going to be
back in your ears for the Friday afternoon headlines. Until then,
have a wonderful start to your Friday. We'll chat to
you later. My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a
(11:51):
proud Arunda Bunjelung Kalkuttin woman from Gadigo Country. The Daily
oz acknowledges that this podcast is recorded on the lands
of the gag and pays respect to all Aboriginal and
Torrestrate island and nations. We pay our respects to the
first peoples of these countries, both past and present.
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