Tuesday, 14 November 2023

The Little Grey Film

Georgie PURCELL (Northern Victoria) (17:30): (588) My adjournment matter this evening is for the Minister for Racing, and the action I seek is for him to be my plus one at the Victorian premiere of The Little Grey Film, an award-winning documentary about Australia’s greyhound racing industry written and directed by Indy Davies. This wonderful event will be hosted by community rescue Greyt Greys on 2 December from 4 pm at the Thornbury Picture House. This film features a series of candid interviews with politicians, including me, my Greens colleagues, rescue organisations and foster carers. It follows a human guardian of a curious greyhound who discovers the truth about the greyhound racing industry – something that I have highlighted here many times in this place, online and now on billboards and rock posters all around Melbourne since the day of my election. Not only that, the film showcases the wonders of adopting a greyhound as a companion – something else I am deeply passionate about and want to share with not only the minister but all of my colleagues and the entire world.

It is well known that greyhound rescue groups in Victoria are facing a serious rehoming crisis, with the industry breeding up to four times as many dogs as it has the capacity to rehome. Community rescues have endless waitlists, pounds and shelters are full and industry participants are trying desperately to rehome dogs online. As a result, countless greyhounds can languish in racing kennels for up to 12 months waiting for someone to open their home up to them.

This little film is doing its big part to share the joys of opening your home to a quirky and lazy long dog with the wider community, because once you meet, foster or adopt a greyhound your life is forever changed. These magical sleek hounds awkwardly sneak their way into your heart, and your life will simply never be the same again. And so, because of this, this event is, not surprisingly, sold out. But with a spare ticket I can think of no-one better to be sitting next to me at The Little Grey Film than the minister himself, and I hope he will accept my offer. I will even shout him a little treat.