A TWEED Heads greyhound industry figure has warned of a devastating impact on the Tweed should the proposed ban on greyhound racing go ahead.

NSW Premier Mike Baird last week announced greyhound racing would be illegal in NSW from July 1 next year.

The announcement followed the release of a report from a Special Commission of Inquiry which found overwhelming evidence of animal cruelty, including mass greyhound killings and live baiting.

But Tweed Heads Coursing Club secretary manager Stephen McGrath said the ban would have a devastating impact in the region.

Mr McGrath said staff at the Border Park track, including full-time and casual workers, face uncertain futures while local trainers were also in limbo.

“This decision is going to impact thousands of people,” Mr McGrath said.

“The Northern Rivers is the second largest greyhound racing region in the state.

“At least 70 local trainers will be affected by this and some would have 40 to 50 dogs in work.

“Then you’ve got the people who are selling them their produce. At the end of the day, at least, this is going to affect 1000 people directly and up to 5000 indirectly.”

Grafton Greyhound Racing Club secretary Brad Ellis agreed that more than the greyhound industry itself would be affected.

“It is the greyhound industry, it’s rural towns, it’s subsidiary businesses that are related to the industries either directly or indirectly,” he said.

“Every single cent which I know this racing club’s spending in town, it multiplies exponentially from business to business to business, and this I think, they’ve underestimated drastically.”

But Tweed MP Geoff Provest defended the decision, saying he had been overwhelmed by the positive feedback in favour of the ban from the Tweed electorate.

“I think I’ve probably received 500 emails in support of it and only two against,” he said.

The decision, however, has sparked unrest with several National MPs, including Clarence MP Chris Gulaptis, speaking out against the move.

Barwon MP Kevin Humphries and the member for Cootamundra Katrina Hodgkinson have also criticised the decision but Mr Provest said he fully supported the move.

“I think my colleagues who are critical of it, they’ve go to call it the way they see it but I’m 100% in support of what the Premier and Deputy Premier have instigated,” Mr Provest said.

“I’ll let my colleagues make decisions on their own about what is best for their people.”

Mr McGrath agreed the report was damning but said Mr Baird had been selective in his approach to the findings.

“The report is shockingly damning, biased, but shockingly damning,” Mr McGrath said.

“But there were 80 recommendations in the report and he just chose the first one.

“There were 79 other recommendations he could have adopted to improve the industry but he just shut it down.”

Mr McGrath slammed Mr Baird’s decision as hypoc- ritical, pointing out that if the ban goes ahead the state would continue to profit from greyhound racing courtesy of betting revenue.

“It is hypocritical to declare something so bad that it has to be shut down but then still be accepting income from it,” he said.

“People in NSW will still be able to bet on greyhound racing in other states and the government will benefit from that. I believe the turnover last year was $335 million in taxes taken out of the TAB just on greyhound racing.

“If he doesn’t want blood on his hands then he needs to stop all association with greyhound racing.”

Mr Baird said the licencing agreements with the TAB and the racing industry are complex and it would take time to unwind some of the agreements.

“But let me be clear, we don’t want to, and won’t, be profiting from poor animal welfare practices,” he said.

“We don’t want to curtail your right to punt but we also don’t want the government to profit from practices like the ones we have seen outlined in this review.”

The report found between 48,000 and 68,000 greyhounds were killed in the state in the past 12 years because they were deemed uncompetitive.

It also found up to 20% of trainers had engaged in “live baiting” - feeding live animals to the dogs - and that on average 180 greyhounds a year suffered critical injuries during races.

The validity of the numbers have however been refuted by greyhound racing officials.

“The figures they are quoting are fudge,” Kynnumboon-based trainer Keith Boan said.

“There is just no way that many dogs are being killed. I reject it out of hand.”

The industry veteran said recent changes meant it was impossible for unscrupulous operators to still be part of greyhound racing.

“It is so overregulated now that there’s no way in the world you can play games with dogs,” he said.

“It’s a different ball game to what it was 20 years ago. They track them from birth to death.”

The industry has promised to fight the ban, with talks held at Dapto and Wallsend on Monday and high level meetings with the Premier and Racing Minister Troy Grant held in Sydney yesterday.

Mr McGrath said he could not see any alternative but the issue ending up in court.

“We’ve got to challenge it and we will offer whatever support we can to those who are leading the way,” he said.