Thursday, 10 February 2022

Western Victoria Region

Mr MEDDICK (Western Victoria) (12:35): (1611) My constituency question is for the Minister for Racing in the other place. Last year greyhound racing across the country saw over 10 000 injuries to dogs on the track and hundreds of dogs killed. This includes 44 deaths here in Victoria and includes 16 from tracks in my electorate of Western Victoria. About 10 times this amount were euthanised, killed, for unknown reasons. Many of these dogs died with horrific and catastrophic limb injuries from racing. They died distressed, confused, panicked and in pain. Even this year it has started badly, with nine dogs already dying horrifically, including on tracks in Geelong and Warrnambool. The greyhound track in Geelong is on a terrific piece of land. If you were to build affordable housing there, it would be a wonderful new suburb close to amenities, transport, parks and shops, and I am sure the new residents would look after their dogs a lot better than the racing industry does. Will the government look at better uses for land in Geelong than cruel dog races?