A NEW precedent for regional industries has been set by NSW government’s ban on Greyhound racing.
Premier Mike Baird’s use of a fixed definition of ‘social licence’, tabled in a government report to justify a statewide industry ban, puts the stark differences between city and bush opinions of farm industries in the spotlight like never before.
Former High Court judge Michael McHugh’s damning report into dog racing, which detailed widespread criminal behaviour, defined social license as permission for industries to “operate only as long as they perform in accordance with public expectations”.
“I strong believe the industry lost its social license,” Premier Mike Baird said yesterday, at his first press conference since the ban was announced last week.
Mr McHugh linked social license to both criminal behaviour and ‘wastage’ of dogs that “are commercial commodities, not animals to be cherished and loved”.
Mr Baird said he judged dog racing’s social license by three things.
One was his reaction to the damning report by Mr McHugh, which detailed criminal behaviour such as live baiting, the second was the level of wastage of animals – the “58,000 dogs slaughtered since 2004” and thirdly the “huge concern” shown in the 2000 submissions made to a public inquiry.
It’s no secret many regional industries are unpopular among some metropolitan demographics. Animal rights groups have long targeted livestock industries, and conservation groups have their eye on cropping – specifically land clearing.
This is not to suggest there is criminal or abhorrent practices in these industries. But if wastage is a key concern why wouldn’t government ban Thoroughbred racing?
If the response to a public inquiry can spur government to ban an industry, native vegetation reform is dead in the water. A public exhibition of proposed land clearing reforms attracted nearly triple the negative submissions attracted by the Greyhound inquiry.
As the Nature Conservation Council crowed in a recent press release “the public has given a huge thumbs down to the Baird government’s plans to weaken environmental controls and accelerate land clearing. At last count, 5,465 people lodged a submission opposing the package.”
The government could argue all three factors combined to make the dog racing ban necessary.
But government’s chief regional representative, Deputy Premier and Nationals Leader Troy Grant, muddied the waters further.
At the same press conference as Mr Baird he said while the Ministry had agreed in Cabinet the ban was needed “we won’t know what the community thinks in relation to social licence until the representative of community come to parliament and vote”.
Mr Grant heard concerns from three Nats MPs on the ban. He said the party allowed its members a free vote but he would be “very disappointed” if, after digesting the report’s findings, everyone didn’t agree it was needed.
Despite calls from Labor leader Luke Foley for Nats MPs to vote against the ban, Cabinet’s decision will be binding.
The upcoming vote on legislation to formalise the ban is all but academic; any MP who crosses the floor to vote against the ban will be on the outer.
The Greyhound ban exposed the confusion around social license. Many of the industries in the sights of savvy lobby groups are the lifeblood of the bush.
Government needs to lay out a clear criteria for social license to give farmers a fighting chance to counter their opponents, before the next call for a new industry to be banned is debated in the court of public opinion.
