The Clock Has Run Out
- Adelaide Pets Alive!
- 19 hours ago
- 5 min read
South Australia Must Phase out Greyhound Racing
In 2023, sickening drone footage exposing a trainer kicking, striking, and dragging a dog forced the South Australian Government to launch the Independent Ashton Inquiry. Led by former Victorian Police Commissioner Graham Ashton, the inquiry uncovered deep, systemic animal welfare failures across the State's greyhound racing industry.
In response, Premier Peter Malinauskas issued a final ultimatum: Greyhound Racing SA (GRSA) was given exactly two years to clean up its act under the oversight of Independent Greyhound Industry Reform Inspector Sal Perna AM.
That two-year reform deadline passed on 8 July 2026.
The evidence is overwhelming: an industry built on treating living dogs as expendable gambling props cannot guarantee their safety and good welfare from birth to death.
Here is why South Australia must move toward a compassionate, planned phase-out.
1. A System Built on Structural Overbreeding
To keep racecards full and betting revenue flowing, the industry requires a continuous stream of new greyhounds in SA every year. This creates a structural oversupply that continuously outpaces rehoming capacity.
2. Horrific Track Injuries and Untracked Deaths
Even within the limited data that’s publicly available, the trauma is staggering:
In 2025 alone, South Australia recorded 1,064 on-track injuries, including 316 major injuries and five dead on-track.
Metropolitan Adelaide's Angle Park track recorded the highest number of racing injuries of any greyhound track in Australia during 2025.
Industry figures only record dogs that die on the track in front of an official vet. Dogs euthanised off-track days after suffering severe fractures, or those injured during private training are not published to the public.
3. Life Off the Track: Confinement and Isolation
While the public can see races, 99% of a racing greyhound's life happens away from the track. The Ashton Inquiry exposed that many dogs spend 20 to 23 hours a day confined in small, barren concrete kennels, kept muzzled, and deprived of basic human affection, play, and canine socialisation. Simply being “alive” is not an acceptable welfare status or a good life for a dogs.
4. The Rehoming Bottleneck
Industry-run adoption programs like Greyhounds As Pets (GAP) are promoted as safe havens, but they represent a systemic bottleneck that cannot keep pace with constant overbreeding and backlog of greyhounds with no sustainable plan one they are rejected or retired from racing.
Because these dogs spend years isolated in concrete kennels without exposure to normal household environments, many develop severe psychological trauma, extreme anxiety, and fear-based behaviours. When industry adoption programs classify these traumatised dogs as "unadoptable", it frequently leads to behavioural euthanasia, meaning healthy dogs are euthanised behind closed
doors simply because the system broke them. Volunteer rescue groups and charities are left to shoulder the emotional and financial burden of rehabilitating the rest.
5. The "Fox Guarding the Henhouse" Model
A core systemic flaw highlighted by welfare experts is self-regulation. GRSA is tasked with both promoting the commercial growth of racing and policing its own animal welfare standards. This inherent conflict of interest ensures that commercial gambling profits almost always override animal welfare.
Between 2011 and 2021, the Statutes Amendment (Animal Welfare Reforms) Bill was created to improve animal welfare standards in South Australia. Two focal points referred to the transparency of the greyhound racing industry. Freedom of information to apply to the greyhound racing industry and annual animal data was to be forwarded to the Minister. The Malinauskas Government thwarted the Bill.
6. Subsidising Gambling with Millions in Taxpayer Money
The greyhound racing industry receives substantial State government financial support. Premier Peter Malinauskas has publicly expressed his desire to see the industry continue in South Australia, backed by millions of taxpayer-funded distributions sourced from the State's Betting Operations / Point of Consumption
Tax (POCT).
Public funding for greyhound racing in SA has jumped from roughly $727,000 in 2019 to well over $4.3 million in recent years. While State funding for public hospitals, housing, and essential social infrastructure is stretched thin, taxpayers are effectively underwriting a private gambling sector that causes widespread animal suffering, despite repeated welfare failures and declining public support.
South Australians Demand Change
Greyhound racing no longer holds a social licence. Public polling in 2026 by YouPOLL and Parliamentary action show a decisive shift in community values:
11,000+ Signatures Tabled in SA Parliament: A grassroots petition backed by animal welfare advocates and presented to the SA House of Assembly highlighted overwhelming public demand for a ban.
57% of South Australians oppose greyhound racing continuing.
66% support a fully funded transition plan to phase the industry out.
77% believe that if the industry cannot guarantee lifelong welfare for every dog, it should no longer operate.
The Path Forward: A Planned, Compassionate Phase-Out
Ending greyhound racing does not mean abandoning the dogs or workers overnight. RSPCA South Australia and animal welfare coalition leaders are calling on the South Australian Government for a managed, funded phase-out that prioritises the rehoming of every existing greyhound, supporting industry
workers through employment transitions, and redirecting public funds into positive community initiatives.
Take Action!
Tell the Malinauskas Government To Phase Out Greyhound Racing. The Malinauskas Government is deciding the future of greyhound racing right now following the conclusion of the two-year reform inspector process. You can make your voice heard in three quick steps:
1. Email Premier Peter Malinauskas (premier@sa.gov.au) and Racing Minister Rhiannon Pearce(minister.pearce@sa.gov.au).
2. Contact your local SA State MP: Tell them as a voter in their electorate that you support a managed, funded phase-out of greyhound racing rather than endless paper reforms.
3. Share this blog: Help raise awareness about the hidden reality of kennel life, overbreeding, and track injuries across South Australia.
References and Data Sources
Ashton, G. (2023). Independent Inquiry into the Governance of the Greyhound Racing
Industry in South Australia: Final Report. Government of South Australia.
Office for Recreation, Sport and Racing. Independent Greyhound Industry Reform Inspector (GIRI). Government of South Australia.
Coalition for the Protection of Greyhounds. (2025). Australian Track Deaths and Injuries Data Report 2025.
RSPCA South Australia. Greyhound Racing Inquiry Update and Greyhound Racing Position Statements.
YouGov. (2026). South Australian Greyhound Racing Polling Results (commissioned by
RSPCA South Australia, fieldwork 6–17 February 2026). YouGov Australia.
Parliament of South Australia. (2026). House of Assembly Hansard, 16 June 2026 – Petitions: Greyhound Welfare and Industry Transition. Available at:
Franks MLC, Hon Tammy (2020) Statutes Amendment (Animal Welfare Reforms) Bill 2020, Parliament of South Australia, Available at: https://www.legislation.sa.gov.au/lz?path=/b/archive/statutes%20amendment%20(animal%20welfare%20reforms)%20bill%202020_hon%20tammy%20franks%20mlc
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