Tuesday, 26 August 2025

Greyhound racing

Nick McGOWAN (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (00:30): (1863) I have been looking forward to this moment all day, and in fact it has taken an entire day to get to this point. I have a letter here which I would like to read aloud, and it is for the attention of the Minister for Casino, Gaming and Liquor Regulation in the other place. I will also provide a copy of this letter to him. I read this very proudly on behalf of Lachlan. Lachlan is a young student, grade 5, at Blackburn Primary School. It is also a pleasure that the Minister for Children is in the chamber tonight, because she too will have the pleasure of being able to understand and hear this letter from young Lachlan, who is a passionate young boy. In fact I saw him again last Friday at a ping-pongathon the school was holding, at Blackburn Primary School. It was a great night. There was fairy floss, popcorn and a lot of games to be played. But I will read Lachlan’s letter. It goes like this:

Greyhound racing should be banned.

Did you Know that over 11,000 Greyhounds are bred into the racing industry each year in Australia?

Hi, my name is Lachlan and I have a Greyhound named Roxy Doughnut who is 4 years old. Roxy Doughnut was her racing name and she participate in 4 races and won no money, so they put her up for adoption. This means that there are hundreds and hundreds of Greyhounds unwanted, abandoned and hopefully put up for adoption each year. Crazy right?

Why are Greyhounds not treated and valued like other dog’s? Why are they getting bread to race and not being bread into loving homes?

At this point, these sweet dogs are looking for a forever home because the shelters are at full capacity. We got Roxy Doughnut for free because the shelter had 50 dogs to rehome that weekend.

I really hope in the coming years the racing industry stops and let these beautiful, adorable and caring Greyhound’s live a long and happy life. Let them be the world’s fastest couch potato that they love to be.

Thank you.

It is a very sweet letter from Lachlan. I will pass this on to the minister, and I very much look forward to the minister’s response to Lachlan. Congratulations, Lachlan – fantastic effort, beautiful letter. I cannot wait to see what the response is.