How many greyhounds need to die before Wentworth Park is shut down?

Today in Parliament, Abigail demanded the NSW Government terminate the lease at Wentworth Park before more greyhounds continue to die on the racetrack.

Abigail gave notice of the following motion:

I give notice that on the next sitting day I will move:

(1) That this House notes that:

two greyhounds have been killed racing on Wentworth Park track in the first two months of 2024, both killed within the space of two weeks, according to Stewards Reports from GWIC;
two-year-old Oceanside was euthanised by the on-track vet at Wentworth Park track after suffering fractures to their foreleg and hindleg while racing on 2 March 2024;
two-year-old Omega Texas was euthanised by the on-track vet at Wentworth Park track after suffering severe fractures to both forelegs from the first turn while racing on 17 February 2024;
99 greyhounds have been injured at Wentworth Park track in the first two months of 2024, 17 of which were seriously injured;
the former Coalition Government announced that the Greyhound Breeders, Owners and Trainers Association’s (GBOTA) lease at Wentworth Park would be terminated and the land would be returned to the community when the lease expires in 2027;
the inner-city community overwhelmingly do not want the Wentworth Park track to remain open beyond 2027, and yet despite this the NSW Labor Government has recently indicated they are still considering whether to approve GBOTA’s proposal to extend the lease beyond 2027;
the Minister for Racing and Gambling, David Harris, in a Budget Estimates hearing on 22 February, admitted that “greyhound racing does not have a strong metropolitan base”, which aligns with evident community opposition to greyhound racing at Wentworth Park; and
the City of Sydney Council has publicly supported an end to greyhound racing at Wentworth Park and its conversion into shared green space for the community’s use.

(2) That this House calls on the NSW Government to commit to terminate the lease at Wentworth Park, and to convert the land into community-owned shared green space, in close consultation with the community.

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NSW is missing out on tens of billions of dollars. By introducing a progressive coal royalty structure similar to the one in Queensland, we would have raised an extra $20 billion last year.

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Huge fossil fuel companies are only able to extract and sell these commodities with the consent of the State. It’s time they paid a fair price for that privilege.

The fossil fuel industry has made hundreds of billions of dollars out of their cosy relationship with governments. Granted permission to extract and sell coal, these large multinational fossil fuel corporations pay just over 7% in royalties back to the people of NSW – keeping the rest as mega-profits for themselves. These companies have a track record of taking more than their fair share and leaving communities suffering and stranded with poisoned groundwater, devastated landscapes and a stranded workforce when it suits their business models.

Globally, the hyper-inflation of fossil fuel prices driven by price-gouging opportunism and war profiteering from Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has delivered record windfall profits to these already obscenely wealthy corporations. In the last year, NSW coal exports totaled over $70 billion dollars, but the people of NSW will only see about 7 cents in every dollar, or about $6 billion dollars of that amount.

Rather than going toward schools, hospitals and public infrastructure, billions of dollars went into the pockets of multinational mining corporations. The Greens believe there should be more money for schools and hospitals and less for mining billionaires.

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How many greyhounds need to die before Wentworth Park is shut down?

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