Queensland Racing Review 2025

Please find below my submission to the initial consultation on the Queensland Racing Review 2025.

In common with the majority of Australians, I support an end to greyhound racing. Queensland greyhound racing is a gambling industry funded with public money. It does not, and cannot, meet community expectations around animal welfare or integrity.

In addition, I oppose funding of the industry by the Queensland taxpayer. The Queensland Government is wasting tens of millions of dollars on the greyhound racing sector. It is appalling that in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, and a housing crisis, that the Crisafulli government is propping up greyhound racing with millions of dollars in public money. Money that should be going towards housing, healthcare, education and essential services.

The Queensland Government also continues to mislead the community by using Racing Queensland-commissioned data to justify this misuse of taxpayer dollars.

This submission focuses on three of the areas highlighted in the Queensland Government discussion paper: track infrastructure safety, integrity and animal welfare.
 

What infrastructure challenges are being experienced in your code of racing or place of interest, and what can be done to address them

Queensland tracks have some of the highest death and injury rates in Australia. 1,865 greyhounds were injured in 2024, with Ipswich and Albion Park tracks recording the highest number of injuries in Australia.

To reduce the number of track deaths and injuries, the Queensland Government and the racing industry should:

– immediately close down the dangerous Ipswich and Albion Park tracks
– closely monitor the three new tracks at The Q with no censoring of race videos
– ensure that all dogs with leg fractures are rehabilitated under a proper injury treatment scheme
– introduce on-track x-ray machines for fast diagnosis of serious injuries
– stop the censorship of race video incidents so track issues can be monitored by the public.

What are some of the key integrity challenges in the Queensland racing industry? What could be done to address them?

There is very little public confidence in the ability of the taxpayer-funded Queensland Racing Integrity Commission to regulate the Queensland racing industry. In 2024, a taxpayer-funded review of QRIC was conducted by KPMG due to allegations regarding bullying, harassment, excessive expenditure and animal welfare issues. The review report has not been made available to the public.

QRIC has overseen ongoing overbreeding and the highest rate of unnecessary greyhound euthanasias across Australia. There is also no tracking of greyhounds given away or sold to third parties.

The community expects that racing industry participants will be penalised when they fail to meet animal welfare requirements. However, in most cases, penalties issued by QRIC are much less than those included in the Greyhound Racing Penalty Guidelines 2023.

A lack of transparency also denies Queenslanders the opportunity to assess the regulation of the greyhound racing industry. This extends across animal welfare data, doping control, and the effectiveness of QRIC’s regulatory performance.

To address these key integrity challenges, the Queensland Government and the racing industry should:

– publish the taxpayer-funded review conducted by KPMG in response to concerns raised about the efficiency, culture and management of the Queensland Racing and Integrity Commission
– mandate the penalties specified in the QRIC Greyhound Racing Penalty Guidelines
– publish ongoing and comprehensive information about the performance of QRIC as a regulator of the greyhound racing industry and how well they ensure the welfare of greyhounds that race in Queensland.

How can racing improve to further prioritise the lifelong care and welfare of racing animals?

STOP OVERBREEDING
The Queensland racing industry bred 1091 greyhounds in FY24 despite it leading the country in the number of unwanted greyhounds it kills every year.

According to NSW, more than a quarter of greyhound puppies are not utilised and are called “initial wastage” by the industry. There is no public record of their fate.

Overbreeding has led to a surplus of greyhounds that remain trapped in the Queensland racing industry in poor living conditions with minimal exercise or social interaction.

To address the issue of overbreeding, the Queensland Government and the racing industry should:

– implement an enforceable cap on the number of greyhounds bred each year
– publish the overall Racing Queensland greyhound utilisation and individual rates for owners and breeders.

END THE REHOMING CRISIS
The Queensland racing industry is breeding more than twice the number of greyhounds it can rehome.

Local racing rules introduced in 2024 encourage private rehoming by industry participants. This creates a significant loophole with dogs being vulnerable to abandonment or euthanasia without accountability.

A critical animal welfare issue is the lack of enforceable rules around socialisation, making it more difficult to rehome unwanted greyhounds. This places an enormous burden on community rehomers who have a no-kill policy unlike Racing Queensland and the QLD GAP.

The costs for rehoming are borne by the Queensland taxpayer rather than the industry.

To address the rehoming crisis, the Queensland Government and the racing industry should:

– urgently establish an enforceable rehoming policy with formalised rehoming rules
– introduce local racing rules around socialisation and impose mandatory penalties for failure to meet the requirements
– ensure that all greyhounds retired to a Queensland industry participant undergo at least annual inspections to ensure their well-being
– conduct thorough investigations to ascertain the location and well-being of greyhounds claimed to be transferred to third parties without any supporting evidence
– stop allocating taxpayers’ money to the racing industry and instead channel it towards greyhound rehoming.

BAN UNNECESSARY EUTHANASIA
According to QRIC, between FY19 and FY23, 486 greyhounds were killed as “unsuitable to rehome”, 49 were killed as “unsuitable to race”, 987 were sent to research organisations and blood banks where most were killed and 119 were killed by the industry rehoming arm GAP.

New measures implemented by the Queensland racing industry have failed to address this animal welfare crisis. A tracking system implemented in 2020 claims to offer “holistic greyhound life-cycle tracking.” However, the system only monitors greyhounds from birth to de-registration from racing, with QRIC relying on self-reported owner data. 

While prohibited in other states, the new Queensland racing rules still allow greyhounds to be euthanased for behavioural reasons and on “humane grounds”.

To address the issue of unnecessary euthanasia, the Queensland Government and racing industry should:

– update the racing rules with specific prohibitions around the euthanasia of unwanted greyhounds and the sending of greyhounds to research facilities including those that operate a rehoming facility
– implement a whole-of-life tracking system that records the whereabouts of every greyhound from the day they are born to the day they die.

REDUCE TRACK DEATHS AND INJURIES
In 2024, 20 dogs died on tracks, while more than 40 were euthanased away from the track due to the serious nature of their racing injuries. Nearly all fatal injuries were leg fractures. 

To reduce track deaths and injuries, the Queensland Government and the racing industry should:

– ensure that all dogs with leg fractures are rehabilitated under a proper injury treatment scheme
– publish the details of all individual greyhounds that are injured at racing and trials.

In closing, I am calling for an end to greyhound racing. All racing greyhounds, and greyhounds being bred for racing, should be rehomed to safe, loving homes. Workers in the greyhound racing sector should get full support to transition into productive careers such as veterinary sciences, or rehabilitating racing tracks into parks and public spaces.

Until this happens the Queensland Government must implement the measures required to protect greyhounds from abuse, neglect, unnecessary euthanasia, racing injury and death.

I look forward to the Queensland Government’s response to this input to the Queensland Racing Review 2025.