NSW voters might be wondering why Labor leader Luke “the Invisible Man” Foley has elected to spring from his normal state of complete obscurity to oppose the Baird government’s decision to close the greyhound “racing” industry, which keeps more people employed killing dogs than racing them. One Labor source — Crikey has been contacted by a number of Labor figures dismayed at Foley’s support for the dog killers — says look no further than Foley’s newish chief of staff, former “controversial” Channel Seven Sydney news director Chris Willis, who was unceremoniously given the flick from his old job last year. Willis, probably best known to the public for his long-running feud with popular Seven News veteran Chris Bath, “encouraged Foley to go hard against the greyhound ban”, we’re told. Presumably the same unerring judgement that Willis employed at Seven has led him to believe there’s political capital to be made from backing a bunch of people who slaughter and brutalise tens of thousands of animals a year.
Why is NSW Labor going to the dogs?
NSW Labor says it does not support a ban on greyhound racing, but why?
article-article-bodyAbout the Author
Publication
Crikey is Australia's leading independent source of news, investigations, analysis and opinion.
Apart from the very real live bating issue, there is no difference with the thoroughbred industry, except more horses are put down annually. And not a big leap to the slaughter (behind the closed doors of th abbatoirs) of millions of cows, sheep and pigs for meat. The horses feed our pets of course, so perhaps we could justify the greyhound industry if the slow ones were shipped to Korea in a well managed live trade export industry. Come on Barnaby, get cracking.
It does seem to be a brain-dead reaction by Labor. Do they really think there are many votes in standing up for animal cruelty? Because it’s really, really easy to characterise it that way. The State Liberal strategists are rubbing their hands with glee!