Wedge Politics

The NSW government has just announced that it’s going to close down the state’s greyhound racing industry.

The primary reason being nominated is that about half of the greyhounds that are bred are culled because they aren’t quick enough.

Taking this to its logical conclusion, we are all going to be vegetarians some time very soon.

And don’t think I am joking – this is the thin edge of a very silly wedge.

A more obvious solution would have been to insist that all that dog meat went into cat food, or something like that.

Having said all that, at any dog racing meeting these days the crowd is numbered in the tens. I know, I went to one recently.

The televised racing audience still exists but they are slowly being weaned onto video simulations rather than real racing. This takes all the variance out of the totalisator process and all of the costs – a big boon for the government and, statistically speaking, of no consequence to the punters that regress to the totalisator mean anyway.

And finally, it should be noted that a number of the dog racing stadia are on some very valuable redevelopment sites. Think Wentworth Park in Sydney.

Right there is probably the NSW government’s primary motivation.

One can view just about any decision by the NSW government through the lens of property redevelopment. You just to have look for the connection.