"If you ban things, I think you've got to be careful. You start hurting people you didn't expect to hurt," he said. Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen "It's best to try and work with industry and get them to sort out their problems and that's going to cause me grief saying that because people will say 'well, you're talking against your colleagues". But Mr Joyce said he had not read a report used to justify the ban. The NSW government-commissioned report report found up to 68,000 greyhounds considered to be "uncompetitive" had been slaughtered in the past 12 years while nearly one in five trainers used live animal baits. Mr Joyce said a "way around" the ban should be explored.

"I haven't read the report and to be quite frank, I don't intend to read the report but what I do is know a lot of people who breed greyhounds and they seem like decent people." Final sprint: The NSW government plans to end greyhound racing in 2017. Credit:Getty Images A number of NSW Nationals MPs are opposed to the decision, concerned about the impact on regional jobs. On Tuesday, Mr Joyce Earlier, told 7 News that "on the back of the live cattle ban, I am always a little bit cautious about banning anything". He was widely criticised during the federal election campaign for linking the 2011 decision to suspend live cattle exports to Indonesia to an increase in asylum seeker boats arriving in Australia.