Greyhound Racing NSW (GRNSW) has today welcomed the response of the NSW Government which has accompanied their release of the report into the organisation and the industry by Acting Commissioner the Hon. Lea Drake.
The 700-page Drake Report was released by the Minister for Racing and Gaming the Hon David Harris along with the Government’s response acknowledging the industry has fundamentally improved for the better in recent years, with new management and an independent Board.
“We were really pleased that the Government has only accepted those recommendations where there's clear benefit to the sport and they can be supported by the evidence of the inquiry,” GRNSW Chief Executive Officer Steve Griffin said.
“We are also pleased that the Government has not accepted those recommendations where there's not clear evidence in support of the recommendations such as halting the US rehoming program, the introduction of breeding caps, oversight by an ongoing committee of Parliament, GWIC (the Greyhound Welfare & Integrity Commission) taking over the management of the Minimum Track Standards, and a whole range of things all based upon a lack of expert information gathered by the inquiry.
“We have ended up with a set of recommendations that we think are sound, and we can work with the Government on implementing them. We have already implemented the vast majority of the internal recommendations that Drake has talked about to guaranteed that we have got good internal corporate governance.
“As I said we are not pleased with all aspects of the report which itself has issues, but we are pleased with the Government's response to the report, which is critical because the Government has listened to our feedback and taken that on board, and we thank the Government for that.
“What we've ended up with is a set of actions from Government, which we think make a lot of sense and we can move ahead and implement those with GWIC.”
Mr Griffin added that while many of the Drake Inquiry findings relate to previous management and Board members who have already left GRNSW, he said they acknowledged that any process of continual improvement needs to be open-minded and never-ending and that while the industry has undergone a significant cultural improvement program and subsequent financial recovery, more needs to be done.
“Like any industry or business, we need to adopt a mindset of constant improvement. That is what we are committed to and we look forward to working with the Government and industry participants to deliver that vision,” he said.
GRNSW announced last Friday that it will invest in two 10-dog straight tracks which are safer for greyhound racing, adding to substantial improvements made in recent years focusing on animal welfare which have seen injury rates fall by a significant amount.
GRNSW is currently updating their Minimum Track Standards which will then be implemented at all tracks, is undergoing the optimisation of racetracks around the State, reducing the number of tracks to allow each to be more profitable and financially sustainable, and exploring the growth of public syndication to make it easier for individuals to invest in the sport.
The organisation has also recently introduced key initiatives to improve workplace culture and enforce more professional governance structures including a professional organisational structure, establishing the GRNSW Compliance Management Framework, undertaking an extensive review of all existing policies and ensuring all are current, an independent audit of GRNSW’s contract and procurement practices, and the establishment a contract register to ensure that all contracts are monitored and managed appropriately.
The full Drake Report can be found here: www.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/noindex/2025-12/report-of-the-inquiry-into-greyhound-racing-nsw.pdf
