Tasmanian committee rejects premier's bid for second inquiry into greyhound racing ban

A Tasmanian parliamentary committee has rejected a request from the premier to conduct a second inquiry into the government's bill to end greyhound racing.

Earlier this month, Premier Jeremy Rockliff requested the Joint Select Committee on Greyhound Industry Transition undertake an inquiry into the bill.

In April, a vote on a bill to end the sport was delayed when it appeared not to have the numbers needed to pass.

Mr Rockliff had then requested the committee examine the concerns held by legislative councillors over the phase-out bill.

The committee wrote back to the premier last week to reject that request.

"The committee is of the belief that it is not for the committee to answer the questions raised by the Legislative Council members in the debate," the letter reads.

Just four of the 15 upper house members spoke on the greyhound racing bill before it was delayed.

Among their concerns raised was the impact on regional Tasmanians, the compensation for participants, and the justification for the ban.

Having previously supported the industry, the Liberals agreed to ban the sport in the wake of last year's snap state election, as it sought the support of a mostly progressive crossbench to stay in power.

Upper house vote timeline unclear

Despite rejecting a second inquiry, the committee said it would be continuing work in its oversight role.

"The Committee is currently developing a work-plan exploring transitional arrangements in other jurisdictions, with the intention to make a report on such matters to Parliament by early September if not sooner," the committee said in its letter to the premier.

The committee has already conducted one inquiry into the bill, recommending it be passed with amendments — though two members, Labor MP Dean Winter and Independent MLC Tania Rattray, signed dissenting statements.

It's not clear when the government will now put the bill to a vote in the upper house.

Industry participants and crossbench MLCs have previously slammed the move to delay the bill, saying the uncertainty around the sport's future needed to end.

Asked about the committee's decision, a government spokesperson said "the only thing standing in the way of banning greyhound racing is the Labor party".

Mr Rockliff has said public funding for the sport will end in June, 2029 when the current funding deed for Tas Racing expires, regardless of the bill's fate.

The Labor opposition does not support banning the sport, and said the industry could continue even without public funding.

The bill to end the sport has six likely supporters in the 15 member upper house, with three government members, along with Greens MLC Cassy O'Connor, independents Meg Webb, and Clare Glade-Wright, expected to back it.

'Unknown' cause of death sparks welfare concern

The committee's decision follows new data released at the weekend, which revealed the number of ex-racing greyhounds that have died since the start of the year.

The data, obtained under right to information by the Tasmanian Greens, records the condition or injuries of all registered racing greyhounds in Tasmania who have been retired between January 1 to the end of March.

It showed 19 ex-racing greyhounds have died in Tasmania this year.

Twenty-four dogs have died in total, with 18 of those under the age of six-years-old, nine of their deaths listed as unknown, and the cause of five deaths listed as unestablished.

"It's a significant number of dead dogs just in the first three months of this year," Tasmanian Greens upper house member Cassy O'Connor said.

"Concerningly, on that list, there's a whole lot of dogs that have died and Tasracing has no idea of their cause of death."

For 39 of the retired dogs now listed as a pet — the vast majority on the list — the data provided no information on their injuries or condition.

Ms O'Connor said the data gaps created an animal welfare issue.

RSPCA Tasmania said a pattern of "unexplained deaths and flagrant disregard for the rules" had emerged.

"These animals deserve better than to disappear from records without explanation," RSPCA chief executive Andrea Dawkins said.

Ms O'Connor said the onus was on the industry to improve its data collection and keep track of retired racing dogs who were now kept as pets.

"Ultimately, it's Tasracing that has to do lifetime tracking of these creatures," she said.

Tasracing has been contacted for comment.

Ms O'Connor, along with the RSPCA, have expressed hope the upper house will consider the new data before they vote on the legislation.

Asked about the data over the weekend, Labor MP Sarah Lovell said the party's position opposing the industry's phase out had not changed.

Tasmanian government minister Bridget Archer said the statistics were "terrible" and greyhound racing industry remained out of step with community expectations.

"Every single one of those deaths and injuries is on the head of the Tasmanian Labor Party, who is delaying the phase out of the greyhound industry," Ms Archer said.