John MacDonald: I'm scratching my head over the greyhounds being scratched

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald

I have never had a problem with greyhound racing so you’re not going to hear me singing the Government’s praises for banning the sport.

But I am scratching my head. Because there are so many things about this move by the coalition that just don’t make sense to me.

On one hand, the Government wants more people working, but it’s happy to see about 1,000 private sector jobs go down the gurgler within two years.

It wants to grow the economy, but it’s happy to say goodbye to the $160 million the sport generates every year.

The Government wants to rescue the greyhounds, but it’s happy for livestock to be stuck in a crate and shipped overseas.

Not to mention the fact that horse racing and rodeos are fine, but dogs chasing a lure around the racetrack is a no-no.

Here’s another one: the Government wants to rescue the dogs, but is happy to spend less on school lunches.

See what I mean? It makes absolutely no sense to me. And that’s not just because I’ve never been concerned about greyhound racing.

What this is, is a left-field move by a right-leaning government which I thought Winston Peters did a pretty good job of announcing yesterday. Considering he’s like me and doesn’t seem to have much of a problem with the sport.

Here’s what he said to a select committee earlier this year: "Dogs love racing. Just like horses. Three o'clock in the morning, everybody's quiet and they're out there having a race in the paddock.

"So before we rush off, there are certain instinctive things that animals like, and one of them they will do whether you're going to organise the race or not."

So with so many unanswered questions, this is when the conspiracy theories start to emerge. Especially when you consider that the greyhound racing people themselves had just one hour’s notice before yesterday’s announcement.

So here are a couple of my theories: Winston Peters has done a deal with Cabinet to get more government money pumped into the horse racing industry, in exchange for banning dog racing.

The only potential fly in the ointment with that theory is that some people think this greyhound thing is the so-called thin edge of the wedge and horse racing will be next on the chopping block.

But as long as Winston Peters is breathing, I don’t think we’ll see that happening. And that could be a long time because Winston is the Keith Richards of New Zealand politics, isn’t he?

Another theory of mine as to why this all came so quickly and out of the blue, is that the Government wanted something to keep the greenies happy when it looks like its new ferries aren’t going to be capable of carrying trains.

That might be stretching it a bit, but see what I mean? When a government does something like this, which doesn’t really marry-up to its general way of thinking, we all start to wonder what’s really behind it.

The reaction so far has been at both ends of the spectrum, as you would expect. The greyhound racing people say they are devastated. The SPCA people say they’re ecstatic.

Edward Rennell is chief executive of Greyhound Racing New Zealand. He got the phone call 45 minutes before yesterday’s announcement.

He says the greyhound racing of today is different to the greyhound racing of yesterday.

Yes, 13 dogs died last race season from injuries, but, according to the saving animals people themselves, more racing horses die each year.

And yes, greyhounds probably do have a much more comfortable life when they’re re-homed with humans than they do when they’re racing.

But their animals for goodness sake. And I can’t help feeling that the Government has taken its eye off the ball with this decision.

Especially a government that bangs-on all the time about dealing with the cost-of-living crisis, growing the economy, getting more people into work and sorting out the education system.

It makes absolutely no sense to me.

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