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Learn more about the issues ...
Funding of the Racing Industry
Greyhound Racing in Tasmania is supported by significant amounts of Government Funding. Nearly two thirds of Tasracing’s revenue comes from Government funding.
A review of the racing industry in Tasmania conducted by the Department of Treasury and Finance found that Tasmania has the highest per capita funding of any State in Australia. Funding in Tasmania is more than $58 per person, compared to just over $6 in Victoria or $4 in South Australia.
The 2020 Treasury review also found that:
- Tasracing’s primary source of revenue is government grants, contributing 64% of total revenue in 2018-19;
- the methodology used to calculate the economic contribution of racing in earlier reviews likely overstated the economic value of racing to the State
- Estimates of the employment contribution of racing made in a 2013 Report overstated the employment contribution of racing, that only 0.08% of Tasmania’s labour force were employed in racing related professions.
Tasmania has the highest per capita funding for racing of any State in Australia: $58.68 per person, compared to $6.46 in Victoria.
'Wastage' - an ugly term for an ugly practice
‘Wastage’ is an industry term for the premature death of greyhounds who are euthanised because they are injured or simply because they are not fast enough or unsuitable to race.
A 2016 Joint Select Committee on Greyhound Racing in Tasmania Review heard evidence of significant overbreeding and high wastage and the Select Committee found that “the wastage rates of healthy greyhounds in Tasmania is unacceptable.” They also found that ” wastage rates are likely to be higher than reported” because of poor monitoring and incomplete data.
Download the Committee’s report.
In 2020 Let Greyhounds Run Free analysed records of live Greyhound pups born in Tasmania between 2016 and 2018 and cross matched them with the dogs registered to race in subsequent years. They found that each year, a significant percentage of pups ‘disappeared’. From 2016-18, 262 puppies (31% of all births recorded) could not be accounted for. Learn more.
Tasracing reports annually on breeding of greyhounds, registrations and retirements from racing, but this data is self-reported by trainers with no independent verification.
As long as Greyhound breeding and retirement data is not independently verified, the hidden deaths of healthy dogs will continue.
Review of the Racing Regulation Act 2004
In January 2022 the Tasmanian Government called for Submissions for a Review of the Racing Regulation Act 2004.
The review by an independent expert will report to the Minister for Racing with recommendations aimed at modernising the Act. The scope of the review includes the question of “what additional integrity powers and functions may need to be included in the Act, such as those relating to animal welfare.”
Our submission to the review focussed on the measures we believe are essential to improving the welfare of greyhounds currently in the industry.
Download our submission to the Review of the Racing Regulation Act.
We will continue to update this page as the Government responds to the review.
The review of Racing Regulation must place animal welfare at the centre of all reforms.
