Agree with Mark, Number your Upper House vote! with SFF candidates.
Maybe our only hope!

Nathan,

Were I a bookie I would be offering 100/1 about LNP ever again trying to close down greyhound racing.

Having said that, a much bigger concern is Gov/GRNSW/GWIC spending too much on expenses and therefore reducing prize money in real and absolute terms, and/or cutting races/meetings. (Vic too).

The next biggest concern is Greens getting the balance of power. Make sure you put them last. (See the ACT and watch Vic on Nov 24).

The next biggest concern would be the failure to promote the world's greatest canine athlete in the public arena. That's the job of GRNSW but trainers can help, too.

They back-stab their own leaders at the drop of a hat

Either of them are just as likely to sell out the industry with another set of pretence and lies brought about by the factions in each party that are holding hands with the Greens

You saw what happened in Florida....the Casino operators held the hand of the anti's by not supporting the Greyhounds that they were coupled with in their licencing

Our biggest asset is ourselves and portraying ourselves to the public as responsible dog owners and at every point along the way promoting our positive aspects of our sport

We need to be punishing real wrongdoers heavily, those who are caught live baiting, treating dogs below an acceptable standard of care, unauthorised euthanasia or those and their living partners who use Category 1 drugs.

Not throwg the book at someone who is 0.1 namograms over the cobalt threshold or some poor pensioner who has forgotten to change the water for his dog that day.

In NSW, we need both GRNSW and GWIC and each State needs their Governing and Regulatory Body to get on board with the promotion of this sport, the public need to see the rehoming stories, thet need to see how a racing kennel actually works and how well the dogs are treated in their racing environment

These are the things that our detractors, the Greens, the Animal Justice Party, Animals Australia and some factions of the RSPCA, lie to our politicians about and convince them that our sport should be closed down

These are the things we need to fight and that all starts with every single participant who wants to enjoy this sport now and into the future

Politicians just believe what they want to believe that will keep them in office

Its the old saying, if it looks like a duck, and it smells like a duck, it must be a duck....when in fact it may be a swan, not getting its true recognition

Very good points - couldn't agree more.

The USA situation is primarily due to three things ...

* There were good and bad trainers/owners but Grey2K & co got hold of the bad cases and multiplied their impact by using donated funds, media and publicity. The proportions did not matter as the nasty stuff resonated with the majority of voters - who in turn prompted the law change (also in Massachussets).

* Greyhound economics were impacted by the rise and rise of casinos (some on Native American reservations, some on site) which proved more lucrative to owners than racing did. Hence greyhound funding was always inferior to that of the antis. More people like pokies than they do racing.

* Defensive action by greyhound people was always just that - defensive rather than assertive or positive. Reactive rather than proactive. It was probably not helped by the fragmented nature of the USA industry.

One way or another, all these things are true in Australia, too. By far the major issue is that we have not got the public with us, mostly because we have not asked them or put up a decent story for them to support.

In turn, those running the sport are regulators, not promoters. As bureaucrats, they clearly do not understand the need to go out and sell the product - to get in first. They are all too busy shifting paper and policing trainers. That leaves the onus on other stakeholders to take up the slack, which means clubs and participants. Failure to do that will - to use an Americanism - let them nickel and dime you to death.

Incidentally, here's another hint - pups. Pups, pups and more pups. The mob will love them, much more so than their mums and dads. So show them. Human kids will then grow up knowing where the racing greyhound comes from.

You know who Im voting for. However, (there is always a however) last night for no particular reason, I was watching SBS and there was a short documentary on the Australian Sex Party. For one or two fleeting moments I thought about preferencing them after my main selection (if they have a candidate in NSW). I suppose the moral of the story is to remain focused as there will be obstacles to cross.

Sandro,

Less and less does Labor preference Greens because they fear they may give away first spot (see Shorten and the recent Vic by-election). Albo will have a distinct problem in Marrickville (Sydney) in the next Fed election, for example. In other cases they do when it suits them, knowing anyway that most Greens preferences will go to Labor anyway.

Greyhound's major hope is that a proliferation of candidates will split the Greens vote, thereby leaving one of the two majors in front and eliminating the danger of a Greens balance of power.

I would love to see more SFF seats but I fear they will be flat out holding on to what they have.

With all things being equal, they should pick up some Seats in the Lower House in NSW from regional areas. I predicted the SFF candidate for Orange would win the By-Election and he did. Even the Party thought he wouldn't. It was momentum.

The Australian Sex party (now Reason party) is preferencing the Greens in Victoria.