Industry updates / GWIC provides industry with transparency around its expenditure and funding

The Greyhound Welfare & Integrity Commission has today released further financial information to provide clarity and transparency in relation to the cost of greyhound welfare and integrity functions in NSW.

In the 2019/20 financial year the Commission’s cash outlays were $16.42 million and $15.66 million in 2018/19. The increase from the prior year is largely due to employment costs associated with staff that were not in place at the commencement of the Commission on 1 July 2018.

The Commission receives funding from four sources comprising a grant from the State Government; a distribution from Point of Consumption Tax on wagering; a direct contribution from Greyhound Racing NSW and ‘own source revenue’ generated directly from registration fees.

In January 2019, an independent review conducted by the Department of Industry determined that the average costs of integrity and welfare functions conducted by Greyhound Racing NSW (GRNSW) in the three years preceding the commencement of the Commission, was $13.89 million.

In 2019/20, GRNSW paid $8.4 million to the Commission for integrity and welfare functions, $5.49 million less than the costs previously incurred by GRNSW for the same functions and almost $0.8 million less than GRNSW paid to the Commission in 2018/19.

Media commentators have also recently claimed that Greyhound Racing Victoria (GRV) spends only $10 million on integrity and welfare and has more tracks, more dogs and more participants than NSW. To fact check these claims the Commission has produced a comparison of key elements of the industry and integrity and welfare costs reported in NSW and Victoria.

That comparison shows that NSW operates vastly more tracks and has jurisdiction over a much larger number of greyhounds due to the Commission’s integrity and welfare programs covering all greyhounds, including retired greyhounds owned by industry participants.

The Commission notes that GRV reported a cost of $19.3 million for its integrity and welfare functions in the 2018/19 financial year. The Commission has endeavoured to compare the cost of “like for like” functions with GRV’s costs. The figure arrived at of $15.3 million appears reasonable but because of differences in the respective organisations, is difficult to accurately reconcile.

Since inception the Commission has produced regular reports to inform the industry of key measures, including breeding data, injury data, retirement data and the outcomes of disciplinary actions. The Commission’s Annual Report also contains detailed information about its program costs, outcomes and comprehensive financial accounts.

The Commission welcomes informed discussion about its operations and performance and invites all interested stakeholders to engage with it on these issues. The Commission also invites suggestions about the development of further analysis that could be produced to deepen understanding of the industry’s performance. All such requests can be directed to ceofeedback@gwic.nsw.gov.au.