Greyhound Racing

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (15:22): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before addressing a question to the Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing on the topic of increasing greyhound racing deaths and injuries.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: The Ashton inquiry commissioned by the Malinauskas government identified many significant failings in animal welfare, governance and integrity in the greyhound racing industry in our state, making over 85 recommendations. Greyhound Racing SA were given a period of two years to address these or face losing their social licence and the industry being shut down. We are now almost a year into that period. On 18 February this year, I asked the minister:

…what is the greyhound death and injury rate per thousand starters that the Malinauskas government will deem acceptable for this cruelty to continue?

The minister undertook to take on that data and get a response back to me. I have yet to hear a response to that question. Since that time, the Greyhound Industry Reform Inspector has published his third quarterly progress report, highlighting that another four recommendations had been completed and one partially completed, meaning that a grand total of 16 out of the 86 recommendations have now been completed. That is 70 still to go and, again, we are almost a year into that two-year window. One of the recommendations that was completed in the last quarter was No. 24:

GRSA publish a quarterly analysis of greyhound injury data in the same manner as [the Greyhound Welfare Integrity Commission of New South Wales]. This analysis must be published to the community.

My questions to the minister therefore are:

1. Is the minister aware that the analysis of greyhound racing injuries from 1 October to 31 December 2024 shows that the quarter's injury total of 305 is 13.4 per cent higher than the July-September 2024 figures?

2. At what point will GRSA be put on notice that their go-slow tactics are unacceptable and their failure to adopt even the simplest recommendations, such as limiting the number of dogs to six per race, will not be tolerated?

3. Does the minister have confidence that the board of GRSA are on track to deliver the reforms that Commissioner Ashton identified as essential if the industry is to retain its social licence?

4. Can the minister advise whether the vacancy advertised for a welfare compliance officer, currently shown on the GRSA website, that had an application deadline for 17 January, has in fact now been filled, and, if not, does the minister have confidence that the functions of this role, namely, ensuring compliance with animal welfare standards, are currently being carried out by the GRSA?

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE (Minister for Emergency Services and Correctional Services, Minister for Autism, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (15:25): I thank the member for her question. As she has highlighted, we have taken steps in South Australia—through this parliament as well—to make sure that we can make change in this space. I know that Greyhound Racing South Australia is wanting to make change, and I agree that they do need to move at a rapid pace because, at the end of the day, the industry is in their hands.

We know that Sal Perna, who is the GIRI inspector in this space, has been overseeing what these recommendations are doing and how they are tracking, and it is something that I am very intrigued to see how this does start to move faster. They do need to move at a rapid rate to make sure that their industry can survive. I do know that the members of this organisation are committed to doing that. They have tried to find steps to make sure that these recommendations can be met and I will continue to work with them to make sure that we can get updates on how they are progressing.