Your voice can change the future for SA greyhounds
The Parliament of South Australia has opened a parliamentary inquiry into an immediate ban on greyhound racing. This was in response to a public petition that gathered over 11,000 signatures.
Now, the Social Development Committee is calling for public written submissions. This is your chance to call on the parliament to phase out greyhound racing in South Australia. The deadline is Friday 9 October and anyone can make a submission.
We have included information below on how to lodge your submission. There are also some suggestions on submission content, however, the most effective submission will reflect your own insights, concerns and experience.
Please let the committee know why ending greyhound racing welfare matters to you and why commercial racing fails community standards. Let them know greyhound racing has shown itself to be unreformable across Australia and urge them to phase-out greyhound racing in SA.Â
Click here to view the submission page on the Parliamentary website.
How to lodge your submission
- ADDRESS YOUR SUBMISSION TO: Secretary to the Social Development Committee via email or post
- EMAIL: [email protected]
- POSTAL ADDRESS GPO Box 572, Adelaide SA 5001
- DEADLINE: 5:00 PM, 9 October 2026
Guidelines for writing your submission
Your submission should make it clear that you are responding to the Inquiry into Petition No. 1 / 2026 — Immediate ban of greyhound racing in South Australia.
Your submission must include your contact details including your full name, postal address, email, and a contact phone number.
If you wish your submission to remain confidential, you must request this in your submission as all submissions are treated as public documents and will be published on the Parliament of South Australia website.
Information to help write your submission
An unreformable industry
- Despite decades of reform, regulation and oversight across Australia, greyhound racing fails to meet community expectations around animal welfare.
- Despite a two-year reform period given to the SA greyhound racing industry, we’ve seen little to no improvement in the lives of greyhounds.
- Independent oversight introduced in states like NSW and QLD has failed to prevent rising major injuries, overbreeding, and unmanageable numbers of unwanted dogs.
- The racing industry business model demands that profit takes priority over greyhound welfare.
A failure of whole-of-life responsibility
- The SA greyhound racing industry breeds far more dogs than it can successfully rehome, creating a surplus of unwanted greyhounds.
- Unwanted greyhounds are warehoused out of public sight often for years after racing.Â
- Prolonged kennelling can lead to behavioural breakdown and euthanasia.
Track-related suffering and death is inevitable
- More than 1,000 injuries occurred on South Australian tracks in 2025 including hundreds classified as major or life-threatening.
- In 2025, Angle Park had the highest total number of injuries of any track in Australia.
- Millions of dollars spent on track safety in other states has failed to reduce track injuries and deaths to a level acceptable to the community.
An unsustainable and unethical industry
- The SA greyhound racing industry is funded with millions in taxpayer money, most of the remaining revenue is gambling money.
- Rescue groups, volunteers and adopters continue to shoulder the responsibility for rehoming, rehabilitation and lifelong care of retired and rejected greyhounds.
- RSPCA SA has concluded that the welfare issues within greyhound racing are systemic and has called for a managed phase-out of the industry.
Greyhound racing is opposed by South Australians
- Recently polling found that 77% of South Australians think that if the industry cannot demonstrate that greyhounds experience good welfare throughout their lives, then greyhound racing should no longer continue in South Australia. Â
- The majority of South Australians oppose greyhound racing to continue. This includes the majority of people in both metro and rural areas.
- The majority of South Australians oppose the South Australian government funding the greyhound racing industry. This includes the majority of people in both metro and rural areas.
The petition to ban greyhound racing in South Australia
Petition Title: Ban greyhound racing in South Australia
Background: The petition of the undersigned citizens of South Australia draw to the attention of your Honourable House:
- The unnecessary pain, suffering and death of greyhounds in the publicly-funded greyhound racing industry;
- The role of the greyhound racing industry in promoting as “sport” a pursuit that inflicts unnecessary pain, suffering and death on many animals merely for the gratification of a very small minority of society;
- The opposition to the harm to animals caused by the greyhound racing industry from citizens of all political affiliations, the majority of taxpayers and the RSPCA SA;
- The widespread international opposition to greyhound racing, with the practice now banned in the majority of U.S. states; The role of greyhound racing in enabling and promoting gambling, including to children, with races regularly advertised as “family-friendly”;
- The vast social and economic costs of gambling addiction, which disproportionately affects citizens of lower socio-economic status, is linked to theft, mental ill-health, substance abuse, relationship problems, domestic violence and debt, and burdens public health and justice systems;
- That these costs make it unacceptable for the government to continue its reliance on private corporations with interests in greyhound racing and wagering taxes as a means of income production.
From: Residents of greater South Australia
Request: Your petitioners request that your Honourable House will urge the Government to take immediate action to ban the practice of greyhound racing in South Australia.
More background information
