The NSW Government has today announced that greyhound racing at Wentworth Park will end in 2027, with the park to be returned to the community and redeveloped into community parklands and sporting grounds. This is a huge win for greyhounds, their advocates, and the community, who have been campaigning for years to see the end of greyhound racing at Wentworth Park.
The Greens have been staunch in their advocacy to ban this cruel and inhumane industry. We will continue to fight until greyhound racing is banned across the country.
Senator Mehreen Faruqi, Deputy Leader of the Greens and spokesperson for Animal Welfare:
“This is a big win for so many of us who have campaigned for years to shut down this death track where greyhounds are killed, maimed and injured at the altar of gambling and racing.
“This is the beginning of the end of greyhound racing in Sydney and New South Wales, with people rejecting this gambling-fuelled cruelty and their tax dollars being used to subsidise it.
“The greyhound industry comparing this death track to the SCG is just preposterous. In case they are confused, playing cricket is the polar opposite of killing greyhounds.
“The closure of one of the deadliest greyhound tracks in NSW shows that pressure works and governments can be forced to change their will against all odds.
“We will not stop here. Our campaigns for ending public funding for greyhound racing, returning tracks to public spaces and to shut down this cruelty are only gaining momentum. We will not stop until we end greyhound racing for good.”
Kobi Shetty, NSW Greens MP for Balmain:
“The decision to return Wentworth Park to our community is incredibly welcome and long overdue.
“We’ve had thousands of people engaged with this campaign over many years. Just this weekend, we had a huge community picnic to reclaim Wentworth Park. People gathered to show the NSW Government how this space should be used. And I know they’ll all be so happy to hear that the government has listened to their calls.
“Pyrmont and Ultimo are already two of the most densely populated suburbs in Australia. If the state government is looking to squeeze in even more apartments, having full access to Wentworth Park is so important to ensure our growing community has ample quality green space and sufficient facilities to cope.”
Abigail Boyd MLC, NSW Greens spokesperson for Animal Welfare:
“We welcome this long overdue announcement, that kicks greyhound racing out of the heart of Sydney. Closing the deadliest greyhound racing track in NSW and returning this land to public use is a huge win for the community and everyone opposed to the cruelty of greyhound racing in NSW.
“For too long, the Wentworth Park greyhound racing track has stood as a colosseum of cruelty in the heart of Sydney, a painful symbol of cruelty and social harm. Greyhound racing has no future in NSW. First out of Sydney, and next, the state.
“It’s time for the Minns Labor government to stop pumping public money into this morally bankrupt industry and shut it down for good. The Greens are ready to work with the government to phase out this untenable industry with a transition program that will reskill industry workers, resource impacted communities, repurpose racetracks to community-owned spaces, and safely rehome all greyhounds.
“The Greens are calling on the Minns Labor government to finally release the Drake Report that they’ve been sitting on for months now. Every day they delay its release is another day Labor provides cover for an industry that has well and truly lost its social licence.”