Highlights from NSW Legislative Council – Budget Estimates, 26 August 2025
Excerpts taken from Hansard record.
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$30m GOVERNMENT TRACK PROGRAM
Mr DAVID HARRIS: The good news is that the industry has moved forward with many of their business cases and so a lot of that funding has now actually rolled out to start work on those important upgrades. I might hand over to Tarek to give you specific figures about the rollover. My preference is that it is rolled over. The industry’s shown now that they’re in a position where they can actually do the work that needs to be done. That is certainly my preference. I’ll hand over to Tarek to tell you how much is left.
TAREK BARAKAT: Thanks, Minister. In June the Minister approved funding for a number of projects—being Temora, the Gardens, Dubbo and Gosford—and funding agreements are now in place between the department and Greyhound Racing NSW for those projects. There are business cases under consideration in relation to Richmond, Grafton and Goulburn. As to where the funds are rolled over, that’s a question for the Treasurer, but I can tell you that, to date, $18,677,387 has been allocated to fund a range of projects—I think, in total, 36 across the life of the program—and there’s about $11,000,492 left to be allocated to future projects that Greyhound Racing NSW submits to us.
The Hon. ROBERT BORSAK: Of that $11 million, how much has been allocated? Or is that still to be allocated?
TAREK BARAKAT: Of that $11 million, there’s $6.794 million allocated for this financial year. For the balance, whether that’s rolled forward is really a question for the Treasurer.
The Hon. ROBERT BORSAK: Maybe you need to take it on notice, but can you actually give us the dollar allocation for Lithgow, Temora, the Gardens, Dubbo and Gosford tracks?
TAREK BARAKAT: I can do that now. Lithgow was $3,272,150, Temora was $1,039,500, the Gardens was $1,128,000, Dubbo was $1,363,000 and Gosford was $168,000.
The Hon. ROBERT BORSAK: How much has been allocated for the straight track in Goulburn?
TAREK BARAKAT: To the best of my knowledge, that’s still under consideration, the Goulburn business case.
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HARRIS’ COMMITMENT
The Hon. ROBERT BORSAK:…Minister, could you confirm your support for the industry now?
Mr DAVID HARRIS: It is the clear policy of this Government that greyhound racing will continue in New South Wales. Our job is to make it as safe for the animals as we possibly can, and that’s what we’re absolutely committed to doing.
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GREYHOUND PASSPORTS
The Hon. ROBERT BORSAK: Can you give us an update on the current status in relation to the movement of greyhounds from New South Wales overseas?
Mr DAVID HARRIS: I might hand over to Mr Tutt to do that.
MATTHEW TUTT: For a greyhound to move overseas, there has to be a passport issued through Greyhounds Australasia. We at GWIC receive notifications from the Federal agency, DAFF, in relation to greyhounds that are exported. We receive those on a regular basis, and we assess those when they come in to confirm that they’re not exported to what is a prohibited country. We get those, as I said, on a regular basis. Most of them are part of the USA rehoming program.
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CEO RUMOURS
The Hon. EMMA HURST:…The day before the SO 52 was due, the report was tabled and it was tabled publicly by Steve Griffin, who was the CEO of GWIC at the time. That was later retracted but that was after the media had already seen the report and there was media articles on that report.
That evening, Rob Macaulay, who was the CEO of Greyhound Racing NSW, resigned. There was linkages within the media in regard to that report being
exposed. Mr Steve Griffin has then—after being the person that accidentally released the report publicly—doubled his salary and then moved over to the position that he accidentally sort of knocked out by releasing that report publicly. Have you heard rumours that this was all done intentionally?
Mr DAVID HARRIS: No.
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“HANDSY”
The Hon. EMMA HURST: Minister, when did you first become aware of sexual harassment allegations against Steve Griffin, the former CEO of GWIC and the current CEO of Greyhound Racing NSW?
Mr DAVID HARRIS: I would have to take on notice the exact date, but I was informed by my staff only very recently.
….
The Hon. EMMA HURST: You can see, though, Minister—I’ve been through the documents that have come from this order. Both of our offices have heard from whistleblowers that have told us that the documents and complaints that they had made against Mr Steve Griffin are missing. In a situation where GWIC is any kind of regulator, if they have any kind of oversight within the greyhound racing industry, and it now seems that they’re
acting to protect the CEO of Greyhound Racing NSW by excluding those documents and failing to comply with an order of the upper House, you must admit that this looks problematic.
Mr DAVID HARRIS: The information I have is that GWIC has complied with the order.
…..
The Hon. EMMA HURST: I’ll come back to Mr Tutt this afternoon. I’m sure you’re well prepared for these questions. Minister, it’s well known that staff referred to Mr Griffin as “Handsy”, a nickname that was given to him because of his behaviour while he was the CEO of GWIC. Can you confirm on record that you’ve never heard, even in passing, or in an email, text or meeting or whatever, that he had been referred to as “Handsy”?
Mr DAVID HARRIS: No.
The Hon. EMMA HURST: Minister, there was an inquiry in Victoria about sexual harassment and assault within greyhound racing which had some very damning outcomes. I was given the response by GWIC that there were so many documents with my call for papers that they couldn’t possibly comply with the call for papers
because it was so extensive. Will we see the same inquiry now here in New South Wales to look into this issue, given that there are so many documents that GWIC couldn’t comply with the call for papers? Or are you open to considering that?
Mr DAVID HARRIS: I understand that the period that you asked for was an extensive period of time. I don’t have any direct knowledge. I can’t answer your question definitively.
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ALLEGATIONS
The Hon. EMMA HURST: My understanding is that there’s more than one case. I assume you’re aware of that, that there are multiple women that have made allegations.
Mr DAVID HARRIS: I’m not aware of it specifically. I’m aware that there have been complaints, and I understand that those complaints were dealt with under the appropriate processes and there were outcomes on them. If that’s the case, I’m not sure that we can go back and review every case.
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OFF-TRACK RACING DEATHS
Ms ABIGAIL BOYD: Okay, but GWIC is a greyhound regulator, or a regulator of the greyhound racing industry, in order to—I would hope—make it safer and improve things. We’re talking about actual numbers of dogs dying. That seems to not be improving over time, but then we’re getting comments from GWIC saying, “Oh, here we go, it’s due to improved track conditions that we’ve got this reduction in this one measure.” But that doesn’t
actually stand up in the context of—you’re just shifting things from one category to another.
MATTHEW TUTT: There can be primary and secondary causes. So the greyhounds that might be—
Ms ABIGAIL BOYD: They’re still dying because they raced. The dog wouldn’t have died had it not been in that race.
MATTHEW TUTT: No.
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10-DOG RACES
Ms ABIGAIL BOYD: On a straight track, are 10 dogs safer or the same or riskier than six dogs?
MATTHEW TUTT: We haven’t commenced in New South Wales with 10 dogs, so that data is not available at this point.
Ms ABIGAIL BOYD: But based on the studies that were done a few years back, where we first took on board the evidence that a straight track was safer, even though we continued to build the curved ones, was anything in that research indicating that you could have an unlimited number of dogs running on a straight track, and it would be fine—that it would be just as safe as six?
MATTHEW TUTT: I’d have to take that on notice as to what the actual reports say in relation to that.
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US EXPORT DEATHS
The Hon. EMMA HURST: The last I heard, on 3 June 2025, was that there have been eight deaths. Are you aware whether there have been any more?
MATTHEW TUTT: I’m not aware.
The Hon. EMMA HURST: Does Greyhound Racing NSW report to you in regard to how many dogs it is rehoming through that program?
MATTHEW TUTT: Yes, we do receive data from GRNSW.
The Hon. EMMA HURST: Do they tell you how many dogs are actually rehomed once they arrive in the US?
MATTHEW TUTT: I don’t know what the level of detail is in relation to the information provided to us by GRNSW, but they certainly provide us with information of greyhounds that they rehome generally.
The Hon. EMMA HURST: But they may not be including any rehoming statistics from the US?
MATTHEW TUTT: I believe they are. I can confirm that and provide the precise answer. But I believe it does contain information about greyhounds that are sent as part of the USA program.
The Hon. EMMA HURST: Sorry, not just sent as part of the US program, but actually rehomed once they arrive in the US—that’s the stats I’m trying to find. There have been, obviously, accusations that some of those dogs are ending up in kennels and that they’re not rehomed, or that they are euthanised sometime after they’ve arrived in the US. And so, rather than getting the data as to how many greyhounds they’ve sent off, I’m wondering if you get data in regard to how many are actually rehomed once they arrive in other countries?
MATTHEW TUTT: I’d have to take that on notice. I’m not sure that we get data that goes to the homes once they arrive in the US. I know we certainly get information as part of the program. But what happens beyond that, I’d have to take that on notice.
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OFF-TRACK RACING DEATHS
Ms ABIGAIL BOYD: Which is my point. You can say that they’re reducing off-track when they’re all being shepherded off and killed off-track. But when you put that together and you look at the total number of deaths relating to injuries on the track, they’re increasing.
MATTHEW TUTT: I take your point. But, as I said previously, the off-track related mortalities are ones that go through a process where those greyhounds—
Ms ABIGAIL BOYD: I’m sure it’s a nicer death for them, but it’s still a death related to their injury on the track, and yet GWIC is drawing this analysis and saying that somehow that means that we’ve got safer tracks than we used to. Clearly that’s just pushing data from one thing to another.
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“OCTOPUS”
The Hon. EMMA HURST: We asked some questions before in regard to Mr Steve Griffin being referred to as “Handsy”. I’m wondering if you’ve heard of the term “octopus” used to describe Mr Griffin?
MATTHEW TUTT: Yes, I have. Again—and I want to be clear on this—that also was a term, I believe, that was referred to at the select committee. As I said, that term—I believe, the term “Handsy” was also used, but they’re matters that are part of the public record at the time.
The Hon. EMMA HURST: They were raised because, I believe, Mr Latham had heard from staff and other people involved in the organisation that these were nicknames that had been given to Mr Griffin.
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DRAKE EXTENSION
The Hon. EMMA HURST: That’s all right. You may have answered this, but I think I got distracted with the issues that you’ve been experiencing around accusations around procedural fairness and what the Minister had said this morning. Could I just clarify what the reason was for that second extension?
LEA DRAKE: Just the workload. I was having trouble getting it done. I thought it was possible but, given the time we had to spend on operational matters, involving not issues, really, about welfare or the future viability of Greyhound Racing NSW but more about the operational issues within GRNSW, that took up a lot of time and writing that became a bigger and bigger task. In the end, if I wanted to finish it and do it properly, it just took that extra time.
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GRIFFIN – TUTT
The Hon. EMMA HURST: Have you been in any contact with Mr Griffin today—emails, texts, phone calls—during the inquiry or during the break at all?
MATTHEW TUTT: Mr Griffin has sent me some texts messages, yes.
The Hon. EMMA HURST: And you have been replying to those in regard to some of these matters?
MATTHEW TUTT: No, only one text message I received from Mr Griffin that I provided a very brief response to.
The Hon. EMMA HURST: In regard to the matters that have been raised today?
MATTHEW TUTT: In regard to one of the matters that was raised today, yes.
The Hon. EMMA HURST: Was it in regard to this matter around accusations of harassment?
MATTHEW TUTT: Mr Griffin did send me a text message. That is clear. But I haven’t responded to those messages directly to Mr Griffin.
The Hon. EMMA HURST: Have you responded to the messages indirectly?
MATTHEW TUTT: No, not in relation to those matters that have been raised. Mr Griffin did send me a text in relation to what occurred as part of the SO 52 in relation to what was known as the Brittan communiqué. I made a brief response to him in relation to that.
Image: NSW Parliament website