Racing Industry (Unlawful Destruction of Specified Greyhounds) Amendment Bill

I move, That the Racing Industry (Unlawful Destruction of Specified Greyhounds) Amendment Bill be now read a third time.

As has been canvassed today, this bill is one of two to close the industry by August 2026. This bill is concerned with protecting greyhounds through the closure process, and it has been very difficult for the members here to come to this decision because there are many in the industry that they know and many in the industry whom they regard as responsible. Members across the House are thankful for their recognition of ministerial urgency to progress this bill to its third reading today.

A second bill will come next year and it will be concerned with the remaining operational aspects of closure. Greyhound racing participants and animal welfare stakeholders are encouraged to submit on the second bill at the select committee process. At the appropriate time, suggestions on how to best phase out the industry will be seriously considered and concerns listened to.

As the industry heads towards closure, participants will be leading at their own pace, and it’s expected that while some licensed persons will choose to keep their dogs as pets, many, if not most, of the nearly 3,000 greyhounds in the industry will be put up for adoption throughout this period. For those dogs that will be rehomed, the advisory committee will be working alongside key rehoming organisations such as the SPCA to transition the dogs out of the industry.

In 2006, when previously the Minister for Racing, I launched the first Greyhounds as Pets adoption scheme, and that was 18 years ago. Because these dogs make great pets and deserve to have a good life beyond the track, those watching and listening today should consider adopting a greyhound. Ultimately, this bill being passed by the House today aims to ensure dogs are not needlessly destroyed, giving them the best chance at a successful rehoming and a happy life post-racing. It’s the right thing to do, and I want to thank members from all sides of the House, in often a very, very difficult political climate, for understanding that it’s Christmas and doing the right thing altogether might be just a good idea. Thank you very much.

Kia orana, Mr Speaker. The Minister is right: it is the right thing to do, and that’s why we on this side of the House have supported the bill through all stages today. As was indicated earlier, this is a vital and a core step in ensuring that there is an ongoing level of humane treatment for greyhounds moving forward, but also that really important issue of animal welfare that Rachel Boyack has touched on.

There have been numerous reports over the years that sought to try and paint a picture around what some of the issues were for the industry and what needed to happen to mitigate some of those risks and concerns moving forward. It is unfortunate that the social licence no longer is in a position to be given to the greyhound industry because of the concerns that have now eventuated.

I want to thank the Minister for his brief time in committee stage identifying a few things. I do think that the 12-month imprisonment period or a $50,000 fine is a significant deterrent. Obviously, we would expect that those who wish to trifle with this piece of legislation would be made aware that that is a significant impost upon their liberty or their financial capacity, and it should serve as a deterrent.

In the last week, the Racing Integrity Board have issued a decision that relates to a participant within this industry. Just reflecting on the written decision that has been issued by the racing integrity board, it talks about the fact that, in this particular case, there was a failure to meet requirements around verification of rehoming of greyhounds within the sector. It talks about the sense of uncertainty as to what ultimately happened to the dogs in question. It talks about the challenges to welfare rules and compliance which are fundamental to the integrity of the system.

This is exactly what this piece of legislation and the one that will follow next year is all about. It’s about integrity in the system, it’s about protecting animals, but it’s also about ensuring that we continue to uphold our status around the world as someone who values integrity in all sports codes and what that might mean. As Labour’s racing spokesperson, I commend this bill to the House.

The question is that the motion be agreed to.

Point of order. Could I make a correction of something I said at the committee stage, as I need to do it right now if I can. I said that the Governor-General was in the Chatham Islands and therefore couldn’t sign the document today. Her flight got cancelled, so she can sign the document. Ha, ha!

Thank you for that clarification. The question is that the motion be agreed to.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. New Zealanders do value animal welfare, and New Zealanders do not want to see animals suffer unduly. They do not want to see them injured in the cause of sports or in the cause of animal production or in any instance unnecessarily. Surveys on the specific support for greyhound racing show that there is a very low level of support. One in 10 New Zealanders does not support a continuation of greyhound racing. This is an industry that has lost its social licence.

I do want to reiterate that we as the Green Party advocate strongly for the highest animal welfare expectations of our society, but in no way are we suggesting that there are not many members of that industry who do not also love and care for their dogs and want to ensure their welfare. That is something it is important to acknowledge, and I just want to lean into those of you in the greyhound industry today and call on your better instincts and your good instincts for protecting the welfare of your animals. I am sure that 90 or 99 percent of people in the industry will be doing that, but this legislation is to protect from that small percentage who may not be.

I also want to acknowledge those organisations who have advocated so long and hard for the protection of greyhounds—Save Animals from Exploitation, Helping You Help Animals, Veterinarians for Animal Welfare Aotearoa, Dogwatch, and the SPCA—and I want to acknowledge the efforts of my colleague Chlöe Swarbrick, who first put the ban on greyhound racing bill into the ballot in 2022 and made appeals to the then Minister, Grant Robertson, to act on the reports that were coming in showing that the industry was inherently dangerous. I was very happy to take that bill on board when I became a member of Parliament last year and to have kept it in the ballot since then.

This is a very good day for the welfare of animals, and I would call on the Government to consider that what underlies that loss of social licence in this industry is a fundamental New Zealand value that animals should not suffer unnecessarily, and in other matters of legislation that will come before this House, we will be calling that principle out and highlighting it.

In terms of the rapidity of the passing of this bill through the House, for those of you watching to understand, this is because we are lined up in unanimous support for the principle of bringing an end to this industry, and for looking after the welfare of the animals. This legislation makes sure that they cannot be euthanised unnecessarily. We commend this bill to the House. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I won’t leave this too much longer, but I do want to actually acknowledge the industry, and, like other speakers have said, most of them have done quite a lot of work in the space around animal welfare, and this will be a really tough day for them. Once again, go out and rehome a greyhound. I think it’s a great thing to do. I commend this bill to the House. Thank you.

Again, the National Party is very strongly in favour of this legislation now that we got to its third reading. For those that may have just tuned in or flicked on Parliament TV, and looking at the Minister for Racing, the Rt Hon Winston Peters’, legislative statement, again, this legislation is required as a preventative measure following the announcement of the Government’s decision to close commercial greyhound racing in New Zealand in principle decision from 1 August 2026—20 months away.

Following this announcement, it has been well canvassed that there will be a heightened risk of some otherwise healthy dogs being destroyed for economic reasons. Thanks to this bill, anyone that breaks the law will face the consequences. As has been already put, the penalties are large and, in most cases, the only person that will be able to euthanise a registered dog will be a vet for very specific reasons under very strict guidelines.

Again, as my good colleague Tom Rutherford, MP for Bay of Plenty, has said, this is a great day for greyhounds. We are protecting those greyhounds. It’s great that this will be passed for Royal assent. Given that the Governor-General is ensconced at Government House in Wellington, thanks to a cancelled flight, this will take effect almost immediately. That is great news for the 2,900 greyhound dogs that will be protected as this wind down for the next 20 months of this industry continues. I commend this third reading.

Kia ora e te Pīka. E āpiti ana mātou i te tautoko o tēnei pire, rawe te kite atu i te kaha tautoko o ngā pāti katoa i tēnei o ngā pire, hakoa ngā pēhitanga nui o te ao tōrangapū i tēnei wā. e hākoakoa ana au ki te kite e kaha tautoko ana ngā pāti katoa i tēnei o ngā horopaki.

[We would like to add our support of this bill. It is amazing to see the huge support from all parties on this bill, despite the pressures brought upon by politics at this time. I am delighted to see the immense support by all parties on this bill.]

Again, we’d just like to reiterate our support for this bill. I acknowledge the Deputy Prime Minister and all parties that have supported this bill, to enact the significance and importance of this bill as soon as possible. Nō reira, tēnā rā koutou.

Kia ora. Thinking about this bill, I’m also reminded of some good friends of mine—Marc and Inge—who have a lovely rescue greyhound called Lily. Lily is one of those dogs that you really do become attached to, even though greyhounds have a very small brain. But they are also quite endearing, and I am reminded of Lily, who at one of our book club meetings bumped her foot just on a bit of furniture, and the screech that she put out meant everyone leapt out of their chairs thinking that this dog had come to some great damage, and it was a bump.

This dog is a great companion, has retired from racing, and provides a real support to our friends. She likes to go for walks but not too, too far and she’ll chase things occasionally, and I particularly like it when she comes to book club. What I’m really, really pleased about with this bill that needs to pass today is that it offers an opportunity for others to rehome a greyhound, to look after a greyhound, and have something that might not be very bright but is very endearing.

Mark Cameron: That’s rather unbecoming, Scott.

SCOTT WILLIS: Well, come on—come on. We’ve got to be frank about this. They’re not the most intelligent of animals, but they’re also very endearing. I think this bill is really about the welfare of dogs, of animals, to make sure that they can be looked after and to do the right thing by them.

I don’t think we need to spend a great deal of time on this. This is a very commendable bill and it is fantastic to see such support across the House. I would wish that we could do more of this and have more support generally for positive bills across the House. With that, I would like to commend this bill to the House. Thank you.

I’m not going to besmirch the intelligence of these animals; this is about the welfare of them. Look, I want to acknowledge that the next 20 months will be a difficult time for many in the greyhound racing industry as we phase it out. However, that does not mean it should be a difficult time for the animals that have been involved—that’s what this bill does. It is about protecting their welfare, having clear standards in place to protect them from unwanted or unnecessary euthanising or destruction. That’s why this bill puts in place a 12-month prison term or a $50,000 fine, or both, for anyone found to be doing that. There is a provision that vets on medical grounds can still euthanise animals, but there are clear guidelines for that, which I think strikes an appropriate balance.

Those watching at home might be asking, “Well, what can we do? We want to help with this situation.” One easy option is to rehome one of these beautiful dogs. Good friends of mine have done this. I want to give a mention to Meredith Marsone, a great artist from Foxton—in fact, her art has been hanging in the Beehive foyer for the last few months. Her and her husband, Grimmy, have rehomed them and have found it to be a great thing. That’s something that we can all do. For the House today, of course, it’s about putting this legislation through. In the spirit of Santa’s Little Helper, we all have a part that we can play. For me, I commend this bill to the House.

Tēnā koe, Mr Speaker. It’s a privilege to speak on this bill, which is one of two, as the Minister for Racing has said, to close the greyhound racing industry by August 2026.

In this call, I would like to acknowledge the advocacy of South Aucklanders who have long been opposed to greyhound racing at New Zealand’s only stand-alone greyhound racing track, which is the Manukau Sports Bowl. It’s worth acknowledging the long history that the industry has in South Auckland, which began in 1987 with the construction of both the velodrome and the greyhound racing track alongside each other. Those facilities were made in preparation for the 1987 Commonwealth Games, and in 1989 became the Manukau City Council’s property—it had paid for a quarter of that for those two facilities to be designed, and it was a public facility that had long attracted advocacy not only around the use of that space but also for the industry that was greyhound racing.

It’s right for us to be able to have some time in the House to acknowledge the importance of this bill, which is about the protection of the greyhounds which exist within the industry. It’s also right to acknowledge how this has come to be and the kind of support out there that our many and diverse communities have for taking this step. This is something which is really important to a huge number of working South Auckland families in Manukau who live around the Manukau Sports Bowl. It’s worth just setting out for the House what this will mean, because the lease for the greyhound club came to an end at the end of last year. It was part of the transformation of Manukau plan—longer than the works by not only the Auckland Council but the legacy council before that Manukau City Council, about how the people within the boundaries of Manukau City wanted that space to look.

You might have been to the Manukau Sports Bowl, Mr Speaker, and never realised, because it is the venue for Pasifika—it’s also a venue for the new Manukau AFC club for football; it’s long been a club for rugby; it’s a place where high school athletics and competitive athletics is held—but it has always been burdened by the fact that a large part of it has been, effectively, privatised by use by the greyhound club there. To be able, today, to see not only the end to the industry of greyhound racing throughout New Zealand but also the end of the industry’s use of that public space that South Aucklanders want to be using for athletics, they want to be using for concerts, they want to be using for clubs and sports, to be able to get the maximum use out of what is a public facility, is really important.

There are a number of people who have been strong voices in this debate who I want to acknowledge today, in leading to this outcome that the Government has been able to take. The chair of Ōtara-Papatoetoe Local Board, Apulu Reece Autagavaia, has long been an advocate in his community, not only in the South Auckland community and Papatoetoe but also in the Samoan community, as a voice for change, as a voice for humanity towards the dogs who have been involved in an industry which he felt had long outrun its social licence and had become exploitative. I want to acknowledge councillor Lotu Fuli, who was also a strong voice within the community about using that space as one where young Pacific people, young Māori people, young South Aucklanders could see themselves represented and enjoy a community facility that should always have been theirs to enjoy, as something which they could practise sports in, go for a run, and use at high school events.

Since it was built as a Commonwealth Games facility, the Manukau Sports Bowl has passed through the ownership of not only the Manukau City Council, which contributed that quarter of the cost of building it—which at the time was $4 million, a significant investment in the late 1980s—through to now a mixture of Auckland Council ownership and those trusts which continue on sports in South Auckland. It’s a great day for them, because the closure of this industry gives a real sense of clarity around what the future use of that facility can now be, which is hugely important to the future of Manukau. The Manukau Sports Bowl is an absolute anchor stone for not only tourism but cultural events in South Auckland. It’s somewhere that is crying out for more use, and this is a real opportunity for South Aucklanders and the South Auckland region to benefit from further investment in and further public use of what is a great facility.

I’m happy to commend this bill. I’m happy to acknowledge those South Aucklanders who have worked hard to really raise this issue up, not only in our local politics at the Auckland level but also at the national level, as a working people’s issue, as South Auckland working people coming out and saying, “We want to be able to use these spaces and see ourselves represented in this public space which should be ours.” Also, I want to acknowledge a long history of advocacy from members around this House to end this practice in New Zealand, and I commend it now.

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. I’ve made a quick call to the boss of the Rutherford household to see if we could adopt one of those 2,900 greyhounds that’ll be looking for a home—that’s a work in progress. I may wear the pants in that household, but she tells me which ones to wear! We’ll be working on that.

One thing that is for certain: today is a great day for greyhounds—it’s a great day for greyhounds. Having that ministerial advisory committee that I spoke about in the second reading is really going to help with the transition that we’ve seen.

As many speakers have also mentioned, it’s a difficult day for those that work in that particular sector, and those greyhounds that we’re talking about, as well. Ensuring that we’ve got good transitional planning, that we’ve got the necessary services and support there for them and the greyhounds, is really, really important too.

This, as I’ve said throughout, is really great day for greyhounds; we’re going to be protecting them; we’re going to be looking after them here in New Zealand. I’m really proud to be in support of this legislation. I commend it to the House.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. It’s a real pleasure to stand up and take a call on this piece of legislation. I want to acknowledge the Minister who’s brought it to the House, and I want to acknowledge the members of this House who’ve come together to pass this—from what I can understand, is going to be unanimously. When I was the Associate Minister for Agriculture with responsibility for animal welfare, greyhound racing and the welfare of the dogs was one of the things I heard most about—probably quite likely from some of those South Aucklanders that my colleague referred to earlier. I’m not going to hold this process up any longer. I commend this bill to the House.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. This is, as has been mentioned by many people in the House, quite an historic day. It is certainly something that is nice to be part of with a unanimous decision around the House. I’d also like to do a callout to those that are involved in the industry who are facing some difficult times over the next 20 months, and I encourage not only their communities but the country to wrap around them and help them out by adopting a dog. With that, I’d like to commend this bill to the House.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. It is a pleasure to take a final call on this important piece of legislation in this third reading. Just noting a number of colleagues from across the House have, I hope, put their hands up to adopt a greyhound. I am going to suggest to my old friend Tim Costley that he has three daughters, so he could take three. I’m sure that those of us who are sitting on the Governance and Administration Committee, when the second bill comes through—hopefully to us—I’m sure that throughout that time, we will do our bit to try to promote the adoption of greyhounds across New Zealand, because there are around 3,000 dogs that are going to need rehoming. We will need a number of people in New Zealand to step up and adopt one of these remarkable animals—they are very smart—and take them on as a family pet.

I said in an earlier contribution I wanted to make a few remarks about the select committee report into the petition of Aaron Cross that we—our committee, the Petitions Committee—reported to the House around two years ago in November 2022. One of the things that was common about that report and today’s debate was that there was a unanimous view across the committee about the social licence that the greyhound industry was losing and that a number of steps needed to be taken if the industry was to continue. I just wanted to point out a few things, particularly from an animal welfare perspective, that came up in that report.

I’ve already mentioned today about straight tracks, that one of the biggest causes of an injury to a dog is when they’re turning around the corners on an oval track. Despite the Hansen report in 2017 stating that there needed to be straight tracks, when we presented to the House in 2022—five years later—there were still no straight tracks. Now, the industry has put one straight track on trial in Whanganui, but, in my view, that’s not enough. It’s now seven years since that report in 2017. The industry should have moved by now to having all of those tracks being straight tracks in order to reduce injuries to dogs, and they haven’t done so, and we haven’t seen enough pace in terms of the changes needed.

Another comment we made in our report was about the focus of the industry on reducing greyhound deaths. While that was a good thing, we didn’t see a similar reduction in injuries or focus on reduction in injuries to the dogs. Ultimately, even if they weren’t killed while racing, a lot of those dogs did end up having a shorter life and were unable to enter the rehoming programme. We have, I acknowledge, started to see some change there, but, again, it has not been enough change and it has not been fast enough.

I just wanted to talk a little bit about rehoming. At that stage around two years ago, we couldn’t see a long-term plan for rehoming dogs, and so the dogs do get to the end of their racing life. We have a number of organisations, like Greyhounds as Pets, that do a great job working to rehome greyhounds, but we weren’t seeing enough movement there. Over the next 20 months, there’s going to have to be a big piece of work—and I know that the Minister has already commented on this—between Government, industry, and animal welfare organisations to rehome a large number of dogs. I do want to acknowledge the SPCA and Save Animals from Exploitation and Helping You Help Animals have already this year put their hands up to assist with that, but we’re going to need a lot more than that. This is going to be a huge effort.

When I met with industry earlier this year, alongside my colleague Tangi Utikere, one of the things we did talk to industry about was rehoming dogs into other countries. I’m actually quite open to that, but I would want to see the animal welfare standards of dogs being taken by aeroplane and knowing that they were going to go into a safe home overseas. There is actually quite a large demand for greyhounds as pets. I think we’re going to need to look at all of those options. We need to make sure they’re safe options, but those are the kinds of things we’re going to need to look at over the next few months.

What I will say is the Government has Labour’s full support in that process. It is going to take a lot of work, and so it’s not straightforward to just implement a ban tomorrow. We need to actually go through a transition process like we did with live cattle export—maybe Government could change their position on that too. We actually need to go through a transition process to ensure that the dogs’ wellbeing is upheld.

One of the other things we noted during that report was just a lack of good data. There has been, again, attempts to improve the data in terms of injuries, in terms of tracking dogs, for a process, but again, just not enough progress to ensure that this industry can continue.

The last thing I wanted to note from that report was we have had a lot of operators in this industry who have been good operators—and I do want to acknowledge them; it’s going to be a very tough day for them. A lot of these operators love their dogs and care for their dogs, but we have had some very bad actors—a small number—and they bring the rest of the industry into disrepute. One of the things we saw was methamphetamine was found to be present in the dogs. It was called an accident by the industry when they came to select committee. I’ve reiterated that to industry again: that they actually should have said at the time, “No, that occurred and it wasn’t good enough and we’re taking steps around that.” Instead, it was minimised and the select committee at the time was not impressed with how it was dealt with by industry.

I do want to acknowledge, again, Edward Rennell. I do believe he has had good intent here and I enjoyed talking with him. I know that he has tried to improve things—but, again, it’s just not enough. This industry has lost its social licence to operate, and so it’s going to be good to be able to scrutinise the second bill that the Government introduces to our committee.

Today’s bill is a very important bill to ensure that we don’t have any unintended consequences. It’s really important that there is a strong deterrent so that anyone who might be tempted to take matters into their own hands and harm their dogs gets a very strong message from this Parliament today that we are unanimous that that must not happen and if it does happen you will be punished.

Today is a great day for greyhounds. A lot of people have done a lot of work—Government, officials, animal welfare organisations—and I want to acknowledge everybody who has done that work, especially today the Minister. Thank you for taking this important step. I commend this bill to the House.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I would again just acknowledge the impact on all of those in the industry. Today will be a very tough day, despite what’s been inevitable over a period of time. I would also acknowledge those that are involved currently in the sector of the rehoming of the greyhounds. I would just thank them for the work that they currently do, and I’ve heard very recently—yesterday, in actual fact—of the successes that they’ve had. I want to thank you for all the work that’s ahead of you and for others as we have a transition out of the industry occur. I would again encourage all Kiwis to participate in the rehoming of the dogs involved. Thank you.

Motion agreed to.

Bill read a third time.