"The ban passed Parliament after thousands of pages of incredibly overwhelming evidence of animal cruelty, drugging, tens of thousands of deaths and a culture that treats greyhounds as disposable," Dr Faruqi said. "At that time, MP after MP from the Nationals and the Liberals stood up and told us there was no other option but to shut down this industry." But several strong media voices, including those of Ray Hadley and Alan Jones, opposed the ban publicly, and after eight months it was overturned. Lorraine Ramsay, of Rescued Greyhounds NSW Central Coast, who has rehomed more than 400 greyhounds, said politicians of both main parties socialised with people in the industry who had been convicted of race and drug cheating, live baiting and the illegal export of greyhounds. “What are they doing with these people? It’s an industry so corrupt I can’t understand how it’s still going," Ms Ramsay said. "It’s a disaster and it’s going to continue to be a disaster. It’s a blight on our society." One trainer she spoke to last week said he had permission to euthanise a healthy male greyhound that wasn’t a successful racer because it was "excitable".

"I speak to a lot of industry people because they want me to take their dogs, and a lot of them are unhappy with the way it’s going. It’s not working. "There have been four chances since 2013, and it’s the same results every time: overbreeding, cruelty, neglect, waste, export (of dogs overseas), drugging and race fixing. Each time Greyhound Racing comes out and says: yes, we can fix it, we can do much better. And every time the government says: have another go, we’ll give you more taxpayers' money." Lorraine Ramsay with rescue greyhound Sandy at the Anti-Greyhound Racing Rally at Sydney Park, St Peters on April 14, 2018. Credit:Fiona Morris The NSW Greyhound Racing Industry Alliance made several promises after evidence of live baiting and dogs being drugged was aired on ABC’s Four Corners in 2015. The alliance issued a statement promising "no wastage of greyhounds in the future" and that resources would be directed towards the Greyhounds As Pets (GAP) program to ensure that 95 per cent of dogs were rehomed so that all bred greyhounds could live a full and natural life.

Greyhound Racing NSW produced a chart of its progress since the animal cruelty scandal of February 2015 but this has not been updated since February 2016. NSW Racing Minister Paul Toole gave the greyhound racing industry $41 million in 2017 to aid the industry with its reforms. Dr Faruqi said this was "against the advice of his own expert panel because the industry would not pay to meet even the low standards of animal welfare that the government now required of it". "The much-hyped Greyhound Racing Integrity Commission hasn’t even been established and the code of practice that was meant to end the cruelty and the deaths hasn’t surfaced yet," said Dr Faruqi, who adopted a greyhound named Cosmo last year. "Through freedom of information I’ve found out that many dogs continue to die and the rate of greyhound deaths related to racing hasn’t changed, with almost three dogs killed every day, and that’s just the ones we know about." A new Greyhound Welfare and Integrity Commission (GWIC) will begin operating in July and take over from Greyhound Racing NSW (GRNSW) as the industry regulator.

GRNSW will continue to run commercial operations, monitor club governance and track safety as well as looking after greyhound rehoming. The integrity commission started to explain the new rules on a statewide roadshow last week, with its chief executive, Judy Lind, and chief commissioner, Alan Brown, listening to the concerns of about 40 trainers and others at Newcastle Greyhounds’ The Gardens track. The Newcastle Herald reported that people there were worried about a bond and other fees that would be used to fund the changes and said it could drive them out of the industry. Over-regulation and uncertainty about licensing were also raised as concerns. A spokesman for Mr Toole said the Greyhound Industry Animal Welfare Committee considered a new draft code of practice at its March meeting and was working closely with the commission to finalise the code. "Greyhound Racing NSW publishes quarterly injury reports to ensure transparency about efforts to prevent and minimise greyhound injury and unnecessary euthanasia," he said.