Racing Industry (Unlawful Destruction of Specified Greyhounds) Amendment Bill

Now, look, we’ve got to save a bit of time, and it’s quite possible we could have the second reading just like that and go straight to the committee of the whole House stage, and people can make their extended, elongated speeches in the third reading—it’s only a suggestion, but don’t forget where it came from!

Thank you to the members across the House today for their support in progressing this bill to the second reading. It was, as outlined—

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Teanau Tuiono): Apologies to the Deputy Prime Minister, you have to move—

Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Oh, yes, I just did that! I move, That the Racing Industry (Unlawful Destruction of Specified Greyhounds) Amendment Bill be now read a second time.

Right, as was outlined in the first reading, this is a small-scope and targeted bill designed to protect greyhounds during the closure process. It is a preventative measure and is expected most, if not all, people within the greyhound industry will do the right thing by their dogs. This bill recognises that with the industry closing, these dogs are no longer as economically valuable, and some are, therefore, at risk of being unnecessarily being put down. That’s why this is an urgent bill. It’s in this spirit of urgency that I commend this bill, second reading, to the House.

Kia orana, Mr Speaker. I will in a small sense take the Minister for Racing’s lead in making a briefer contribution. I did, in my first reading speech, sort of touch on the couple of reports that I did want to reference, and usually in a second reading contribution, we would have heard back from the community around that, so I do want to just touch on two. That’s the Hansen report, but more timely is the Robertson report that was done by Sir Bruce Robertson back in 2021, and I know that Sir Bruce had spent a bit of time actually meeting and engaging with industry to pull all of that intel, shall we say, together.

One of the interesting things was that the outcome of those reports in terms of the context was that there was no real oversight as to the specific reasons for euthanisation, which meant that many healthy greyhounds were euthanised, and this is the exact point that this bill, under urgency, is seeking to mitigate and address. The proposition that some greyhounds would, effectively, be destroyed for no other reason except, as the Deputy Prime Minister has said, that they might no longer have at some point in the future any economic viability or benefit is something that does not sit well with members of the House. I do think that the report from Sir Bruce, which identified not just that but some of the issues around the breeding component—which is also part of the Minister’s bill—was also very, very important.

I note that the consequence, if you like, for this—and perhaps we’ll talk about that briefly in the committee stage. The penalty is one of up to 12 months’ imprisonment alongside, potentially, a $50,000 fine, and so we are talking about quite a stiff deterrent, which it needs to be. I mean, there needs to be a stiff deterrent for this, and I think what it needs to signal is that there is an expectation of Parliament that the industry might come to an end in August 2026, but until that point in time, there needs to be active efforts that are taken to rehome the many greyhounds that would be otherwise in a state of limbo until then. I’ll take the Minister’s lead and take my seat.

The question is that the motion be agreed to.

Yes, I’m also going to take a very short call on this and perhaps prosecute some more specific details in the committee of the whole House stage, but I just wanted to speak from the explanatory note, which I think very well outlines the importance of this particular bill.

The Greyhound Racing Association actually already has a policy on ensuring proper veterinary involvement in any decision to euthanise a dog—it has to be done for specific reasons—and because we’ve got a 1 August final closure date, it’s important that we enact legislation in a timely manner to protect the welfare of the animals. Reading from that explanatory note, “While most people in the industry will act in good faith in keeping or rehoming their greyhounds during the closure period”—and I think that’s a very important thing to acknowledge—“there is a concern that a small number of owners may take steps to dispose of their greyhounds only because they have become less economically valuable and, with closure imminent, [Greyhound Racing New Zealand’s] current euthanasia policy will no longer be an effective deterrent to the unnecessary destruction of greyhounds.”

That’s why this legislation is so important and we commend it to the House. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I’ll also keep my contribution very short, because we support this bill. Greyhounds, as many people have said, are lovely, wonderful pets. This is a bit of a pledge out there for those homes that are looking for a furry friend: they’re low-shedding and apparently quite lazy—but my colleague over here said not so much sometimes, so, hopefully, you’ve got a little bit of space somewhere for them to run around. I commend this bill to the House.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I just think it’s important, at this stage, to outline the explanatory note as to what this bill creates. It’s creating “a new offence of intentionally destroying a greyhound that is or was registered with [Greyhound Racing New Zealand] or the offspring of a breeding female that is registered with [Greyhound Racing New Zealand]. A person who commits the offence will be liable in terms of imprisonment not exceeding 12 months or a fine not exceeding $50,000, or both”—unless, and there are provisions within this legislation, it’s by a vet for a very specific reason as per Greyhound Racing New Zealand’s euthanasia policy. Those are the consequences for those that dabble with this law. I commend this.

Kia ora e te Pīka. Kāore he kōrero i tua atu i te tautoko i tēnei o ngā pire—there’s nothing that we are adding to the contribution that we’ve already made, other than we support this bill.

I just want to make the point that although we are rushing through this legislation, it is to safeguard the welfare of animals and not because we inherently believe that all greyhound owners are bad people. Of course, there are a large number that will be wanting to look after their animals, but we want to ensure that every animal has the highest welfare standards. There is the provision, as Mr Brewer outlined, for euthanasia where it is done by a vet within the specific guidelines. This is an important step to take, it’s considered, and I commend it to the House.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I rise to take a call on the Racing Industry (Unlawful Destruction of Specified Greyhounds) Amendment Bill. I would like to agree with my colleague to the left here. It’s really fantastic to see this bill come to the House, but, I don’t feel like I’d necessarily be adding anything to the conversation that hasn’t already been said by previous speakers. I think, in kind of potential preparation for us getting into Government in a couple of years’ time and seeing how short some of the Government MPs’ calls tend to be when it’s a Government bill, I commend this bill to the House.

Mr Speaker, thank you very much. I’ll just take the opportunity to say a few words on a bill that has been a long time coming. As a former Minister for Racing, I want to acknowledge the current Minister, who’s taking this bill through—one of two bills, I understand. This is to protect, I guess, the welfare of sentient animals.

These animals involved in the greyhound industry and the racing, the greyhounds themselves, have been bred to race with good intent by owners and people who have been part of an industry that has quite a history. We have to acknowledge them; they’ve worked within the law. But they’ve seen this coming, and the social licence to continue, I think, has been pushing up against it for a number of reasons—the injuries in particular. While there have been trials—and I, as Minister, visited the greyhound tracks and saw some of the, I guess, challenges that have been there—ultimately, the call to close this down is quite a tough one; it’s the right one. I acknowledge the Minister. We’ve just got to make sure that we, in this bill, deal with the sentient animals who want to race, who like to race, and now won’t be able to, so we’ve got to make sure that they have a good life.

For those people involved in the industry, we also have to acknowledge that they’ve committed themselves, their livelihoods, their incomes, taking a chance—the racing industry is not an easy one to be involved in, but it’s been part of our heritage. It’s been part of the communities around New Zealand—less so greyhound. There is a lesson in here for the horse racing industry: to make sure that we do everything we can to look after the animals and give them a good life.

To finish off, I acknowledge the decision by this Government to do the right thing, and we in Opposition will support that. Kia ora.

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. A couple of points I just want to raise in this second reading: firstly, New Zealand is one of only five countries in the world that still permit commercial greyhound racing. This bill specifically does focus on the unlawful destruction of specified greyhounds, but also, as we go through that transitional period, a ministerial advisory group has been established, chaired by Heather Simpson, which will oversee that transition process. Today, we’re focused specifically on the unlawful destruction of specified greyhounds, and as I just said previously, it’s a great day for greyhounds. I commend it to the House.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I too stand in support of this bill and want to acknowledge the Minister for Racing and the work he has done to lead such support across the House on something so important.

I make the point that I, for one, have been, in the past, along to watch dog racing. For those of you who know Tāmaki-makau-rau well, you’ll know where Manukau is and you’ll know where the dog racing track was. It was quite the place to be in Tāmaki-makau-rau. Interestingly enough, now it plays host—and has done for a number of years—to the Polyfest. Now I think it’s a good move as we look towards the future, if you will, of those kinds of places whereby our tamariki are now standing up in those places and representing all of us into the future.

I want to acknowledge, though, that, for many, they have invested their lives into this particular sector and into this particular area. I acknowledge the Minister in his work about having a runway, if you will, to make sure that we can do this and remain vigilant on these matters as we give them the time frame that’s been afforded with this particular bill. I’ll leave my contribution there and say that we support this bill.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. It’s a tough decision to make for so many people who are going to be impacted by the banning of greyhound racing in New Zealand, particularly those who’ve done a really good job of looking after the animals. It’s not easy doing the right thing, I suppose, sometimes. That is that there are too many animals injured, too many animals that needed to be euthanised, and a number of—a small number, I might add—contributors to the industry that weren’t doing their part. I do want to acknowledge those that have contributed to the industry in a positive way over many years and the stress and the unknown future in front of them. With that, I commend this bill to the House.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I just wanted to make a short contribution and just correct something I said in my first reading speech. I mentioned the petitioner who has taken a number of petitions to ban greyhound racing, but I said “Steve Cross”, who’s a well-known agitator in Nelson who stands up for fairness. I meant to say “Aaron Cross”, who is also an agitator and stands up for fairness, but this time for dogs.

Can I just acknowledge all of the work that Aaron has done over many, many years to continue to bring petitions to Parliament. I know it has at times been a tense conversation between himself and other organisations, and can I just acknowledge everyone who has been involved to date in this process to continue to put the welfare of dogs first. This is an excellent bill, as many of us have already spoken about, because it will ensure that the welfare of dogs is upheld as we then go through the transition process as we ban and end greyhound racing in New Zealand. Today is a great day. I commend this bill to the House.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. As a sheep and beef farmer, my life’s always involved dogs, whether they’re huntaways, heading dogs, or the odd ankle-biter. they’ve been an integral part of my life, and they still are. Not only are our four-legged friends great workers, they’re also great mates and loyal, and I’d urge New Zealanders to think about rehoming dogs from the industry as the transition occurs because they could become integral in their lives as my dogs have become in my family’s. Thank you.

Motion agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

The bill is set down for committee stage immediately. I declare the House in committee for consideration of the Racing Industry (Unlawful Destruction of Specified Greyhounds) Amendment Bill.

In Committee

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