There is one reason Mike Baird felt confident enough to announce a fortnight ago that his government would ban greyhound racing in NSW from July 1 next year: he knew he had the numbers in Parliament.

Baird probably did not foresee the threat of a handful of Nationals MPs potentially crossing the floor or abstaining from the vote on legislation required to enact the ban, but his large majority in the Legislative Assembly means that is no real threat.

In the upper house he knew he would have the support of the Greens, meaning the Coalition did not have to rely and deal, as it usually does, with the remainder of the crossbench.

Emboldened, Baird and Nationals leader Troy Grant declared the shutdown timetable, effectively relegating Parliament to a rubber stamp.