New beginning for greyhound industry
ALTHOUGH she’s over the moon about Premier Mike Baird’s backflip on banning greyhound racing, Dubbo breeder Charmaine Roberts said their three months of mistreatment will take a long time from which to recover.
The announcement on July 7 that the entire industry would be shut down in the same month in 2017 completely shattered anyone associated with breeding, training and racing greyhounds.
“It put a lot of strain on us every day,” Charmaine said.
“It was the first thing you thought of in the morning and the last thing you thought of at night.”
Although she and partner Shayne didn’t take steps to stop breeding or racing, Charmaine said the thought was always there in the back of her mind.
“It’s like being told you have no job and your children will be taken away from you. It’s pretty hard to fathom.
“We didn’t sell any dogs during that time because no-one wanted to buy them. Everything came to a halt, our whole life was on hold.”
As a third generation breeder, Charmaine would be lost without her dogs, who are both an important part of her life and her livelihood. For the industry to shut down, it would have been the end of life as she knew it.
“It was going to have a huge impact on our lives. Being an owner/trainer/breeder is our life.”
When Mike Baird announced on October 11 that he’d ‘got it wrong’ by proposing the ban, Charmaine was thrilled.
Two days later, she attended an industry fund- raiser in Orange which turned into a celebration.
“Everyone let their hair down, they were so relieved,” she said. “In any sport, there’s always rivalry, but since this has happened, everyone has become really close. It pulled us all together.”
Charmaine admits that some people in the industry ‘did need a shake-up but tarring everyone with the same brush was not the answer’.
She believes the situation certainly had repercussions in the government arena. “It turned very political, it was crazy.” Charmaine’s partner Shayne Stiff is a bookmaker by trade and the local Greyhound Breeders, Owners and Trainers Association (GBOTA) spokesman and president of Dubbo Greyhound Racing Club.
With the industry now in reformation mode, Shayne said the NSW Greyhound Racing Industry Alliance was still fighting to have the Mchugh report discredited.
“We are stating that these facts are wrong. It’s a huge thing because we don’t want the government to hold the Mchugh report over our heads forever.”
Politically speaking, Shayne believes that Dubbo MP and racing minister Troy Grant did not go into bat for the industry he represents when it was threatened with closure.
“Why hasn’t he resigned as racing minister? I’ve been to his office to ask for help and he didn’t do his job in the first place. He didn’t stick up for the industry, instead he tried to shut it down.”
In the wake of the backdown, Troy Grant stepped down from his role as Deputy Premier and leader of the National Party.
Shayne said the huge swing away from the party in a previously safe seat at the recent Orange by-election was further evidence of voters making their voice heard on issues such as this one. There is still a long road ahead for greyhound racing but retaining their industry is a step in the right direction for the doggies.