Another one bites the dust

The only op-ed writer left worth reading at Stuff, Martin van Beynen signed off today:

As an opinion writer, it's easier to identify what you oppose rather than what you support. I don't like being told I'm to blame. I don't like zealots and young know-nothings telling me what to do. I don't like wokeness or virtue signalling or cancelling people for some trivial perceived infringement of current sensibilities. I don't like being told I'm privileged or that I had it too good because of being pale and male. I don't like tailoring my views to suit a new zeitgeist. I don't like the implication that everything done to improve people’s lives prior to the latest orthodoxy has been a disastrous failure and that some new system will bring in a utopia.

So there's another voice looking for a new home.

They are piling up.

Chris Trotter foolishly invokes Micky Savage

I think Chris Trotter was in his cups writing about the Budget yesterday, including this line: "To hear Robertson invoke the memory of Ruth Richardson’s “Mother of All Budgets” ... delivered 30 years ago as the final crushing blow against Mickey Savage’s welfare state..."

Is that a joke? The welfare state Savage designed was stringently policed. There was no benefit for any individual who caused their own incapacity to work. Criminals and drunks had no eligibility. Single women who became mothers had no eligibility. Even deserted married women struggled to access assistance. 

By 1991 Savage's welfare state had metamorphosised into a massive mess with sixteen percent of the working age population on a benefit. Until 1970 there was never more than two percent. Savage would have approved of Richardson's reforms (numerically exaggerated in the re-telling) intended to undo the intergenerational dependence and dysfunction that had developed.

Now the country is running headlong into free-for-all, no-questions-asked reliance on the state. As Trotter points out, Clark and Cullen resisted this. And they were right to do so. They consistently maintained work was the best way out of poverty (which includes child poverty).

The kind of values needed to raise children with their wellbeing absolutely utmost cannot be learned from a government. They cannot be replaced by unearned income.

Savage understood human hardship but he also understood human motivation.

MSD priorities

Recently we learned that MSD was moving its fraud investigators away from beneficiaries and onto businesses.

"...between 40 and 50 MSD staff who usually worked on benefit fraud would be working on subsidy investigations for another 12 to 18 months."

In other words, leave the non-productive alone and go after the productive - those keeping the economy afloat by working and paying taxes.

This seems par for the course now.

I note today in the Budget detail this advice from MSD:

Right now, people getting Jobseeker Support – Health and Disability don’t need to renew their medical certificates. This will continue to be deferred until the new process starts.

This applies to over 78,000 individuals.

The "new process" begins next year and entails a new medical certificate process for Jobseeker clients with a health condition, injury or a disability that affects their ability to work. It’ll be more flexible and based on their health practitioner’s advice.

It's almost certain that for some this will be a fairer process based on their genuine incapacity. But there's an equal argument that these rules need to be stringent to deter malingerers. (Most doctors will welcome the easing. They do not want to play the role of benefit gatekeepers.)

Let's quickly recap on other rules that have been eased since 2017.

Single mothers no longer have to name the father/s of their child/ren. The father pays no child support.

Single mothers who continue to add children to their benefit are no longer subject to a subsequent child policy which kept their original work obligations intact.

Annual jobseeker reapplications and stand-downs are still deferred.

And despite what Mike Hosking said on NewstalkZB this morning about sanctions increasing under Labour, he was only referring to sanctions for having an outstanding arrest warrant. I expect the Covid disruptions to courts has provoked that.

Overall sanctions are decreasing. The following are quarterly:

Timeless evidence the Budget ignores

 "... there is an unavoidable trade-off between providing generous assistance to the poor and improving incentives for people to work and provide for themselves. On average across OECD countries, there is a fairly strong correlation between the effectiveness of tax and benefit systems in reducing poverty and the level of family joblessness. The correlation coefficient is 0.63 – implying that every 1 percentage point increase in the level of poverty reduction achieved by the welfare state is associated with an increase in the number of jobless families by 0.63 percentage points. Among the English-speaking countries, the correlation is even stronger (about 0.92), so that Australia and the United Kingdom reduce child poverty very significantly and have very high levels of joblessness among families; while Canada and the United States reduce poverty much less, but have much lower levels of joblessness (although they have much higher poverty among working families with children). That is, in the English-speaking countries the argument made by Adam, Brewer and Shepherd (2006) appears to apply – more generous support to poor families is associated with higher levels of family joblessness."

Source

As I have said repeatedly that  Jacinda Ardern's fixation with reducing child poverty will be realised only at the cost of more children growing up in benefit-dependent families. 

"...findings show that poor children reliant on government transfers, when compared with poor children reliant on market incomes, have lower living standards and a number of compounding shortfalls that can be expected to place them at greater risk of negative outcomes."

Source

No coherence in Labour's thinking or approach

 According to Bryce Edwards on RNZ: 

"...pressure to deliver to those most in need is now just too great for the government to ignore, and rumours are building that a benefit increase will be announced."

A benefit increase would be consistent with Labour's general approach to welfare.

But how does it tie in with the new immigration policy?

"...the country must move away from its reliance on a low-skilled migrant labour force."

The PM stressed on RNZ this morning, " Those on temporary work visas make up 5 percent of the labour force - the highest share in the OECD" with a definite implication that 'highest' was a bad thing.

But if benefits are made more attractive (along with already increasing ease of access) then New Zealanders are not going to fill the roles that migrants willingly do.

Here's an example:

Jade is on sole parent support, but she does not want to be on a benefit.

She wants to study, but she has decided to wait another couple of years, so she can spend more time with her nine-year-old daughter.

I initially received this as audio and thought I must have misheard, and she said 9 month-old daughter.

I was wrong. 

A benefit is not provided so a parent can spend more time with their 9 year-old who is presumeably at school for most of the day. Jade could support herself - or very nearly - doing any number of jobs that low-skilled migrants do.

Sorry but I have a problem with people with this sort of attitude.

And I am very grateful and inspired by people who come to New Zealand and uncomplainingly fill crucial roles. We need more of their work ethic and self-reliance here.

 

Why stats matter

You want to know what the average household income by ethnicity is. Seems straight forward. You take a survey of about 20,000 households, ask about how much income they receive (from various sources), assign an ethnicity and average it out for all households that fall into each ethnicity. Here is the result:

From the raw data:

European   50,562

Māori 40,760

Pacific peoples 38,204

Asian 44,198

MELAA 43,385

Other ethnic group 43,155

Total 47,775

Um. Don't these averages seem a little on the low side given so many households have two (or more) workers?

They are. That's because of the process called 'equivalisation'. The 'gross' incomes are equivalised according to the number of household occupants. The greater the number of people reliant on the income, the lower the equivalised income will be.

What would be more revealing is the unadjusted or 'gross' household incomes. Unfortunately these do not appear in the published tables. But I can tell you that the average total gross income is $107,196 which is a darn sight higher than the average $47,775 after equivalisation.

Remember the poverty stats are derived from equivalised income - not gross.

So a family with four children may be reported as poorer than the family with two children living next door even though their gross income is higher.

You may say, so what? 

Why they matter is because these stats drive taxation/redistribution policies. They influence how much is taken from Paul to give to Peter. Doesn't matter how hard Paul worked, what sacrifices he made, how careful he was not to have more children than he could personally afford to raise. If he is defined as 'rich' and Peter is 'poor' you know the outcome.

It's interesting that StatsNZ motto is now:

About Aotearoa, for Aotearoa

Data that improves lives today and for generations to come

Depends on whose lives really.

Men are lazy, delusional and selfish

 Men are not pulling their weight around the house. Apparently if they did the economy would be $1.5 billion better off.  Deloitte's who are making the claim says “You have to put a number on it to get people’s attention.” Surprisingly frank about how manipulative axe-grinders are.

Ex National MP Marilyn Waring wades in, “Men underestimate how much unpaid work their partners do, which means all the rest of their answers are highly questionable because they are working from a fiction, not facts.” 

Not just lazy then but delusional to boot.

"Men were also fiercely defensive of their leisure time". Selfish too.

That's backed up by men picking the best jobs. "Men also tended to favour work that involved fun things like power tools."

Of course all of this male failing can be corrected if the government steps in and makes some "good policy decisions."

Except... just a minute... along comes a bright young woman who doesn't think men are lazy, delusional and selfish. 

“It’s quite fluid for my generation. There’s no expectation to conform, which I quite like,” she said.

Stick that in your pipe Marilyn.

Asian parents give lie to the NZ narrative

The non-challenged New Zealand narrative is that housing costs are a major driver of child poverty. 

Rents are unaffordable, houses are damp and mouldy, and children go hungry and ill as a consequence.

Consider these newly released graphs from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC):

Asian children live in homes with the highest ratio of housing- to- income costs.

Asian children have the lowest experience of damp, mouldy homes.

Asian children are the least likely to go hungry.

Looks a lot to me like Asians prioritise renting or buying at the limit of their capability; that they seek better properties and better neighbourhoods and take responsibility for any damp or mould; and that even on tight budgets they know how to feed their kids.

Asian parents give lie to the New Zealand narrative.

Defining ethnicity for the purposes of measuring child poverty

The Child Poverty Related Indicators report on housing, food security, school attendance and potentionally avoidable hospital admissions. The problem - or absurdity - is that each indicator uses a different method of defining child ethnicity.

• Housing affordability and housing quality indicators: ethnic groups are reported using the total response method. People were able to identify with more than one ethnic group; therefore, figures will not sum to the total population. People who responded ‘New Zealander’ were classified as ‘other ethnic group’.

• Food security: respondents can identify with multiple ethnicities, including specifying an ethnic group not listed.

• School attendance: students were able to identify with up to three ethnicities. Students are counted under each ethnic group they identify with and once in "Total".

• Potentially avoidable admissions: The ethnicity reported is based on prioritised ethnicity for a patient within the hospital inpatient system. This prioritises people to Māori, then Pacific, and then Other ethnicities. A person identified as having more than one ethnicity will be prioritised accordingly and will only be counted once under each ethnicity category for each PAH event.

Take the first, housing. If a child falls in the housing hardship group, and has two or more ethnicities, he is counted twice or more. So there is a bias towards overstating a housing hardship problem for children of mixed ethnicity. 

Conversely, with hospitalisations, even though each child is counted just once, because Maori ethnicity is prioritised, there is a bias towards overstating the Maori aspect of hospitalisation. 

Just two more reasons why the Child Poverty Related Indicators need to be taken with a grain of salt.

Massaging child poverty indicators

 

This is a graph with which I am familiar. If anything there is an upward trend in 'all cause' child hospitalisations.

So I was somewhat surprised yesterday to hear the good news from the PM's department Child Poverty Related Indicators Report that 'potentially avoidable hospitalisations' (PAH) are trending down.

"Over the five years to 2019/20, rates of potentially avoidable hospitalisations have been decreasing."

Odd.

So I went looking for the detail that might explain the seeming contradiction (beyond the fact that from March 2020 Covid meant people didn't go to hospital.) Here's the blurb on PAH:

 Potentially avoidable hospitalisations

The Ministry of Health does not routinely collect data on potentially avoidable hospitalisations. In order to present data for this indicator, the Ministry of Health used the National Minimum Dataset (Hospital Inpatient Events) and developed a specific methodology based on analysis from academic literature and discussions with experts. The methodology report has been published by the Ministry of Health (Ministry of Health. Indicator of potentially avoidable hospitalisations for the Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy: A brief report on methodology. Wellington: Ministry of Health. 2020).

A "specific methodology" designed solely for the purposes of creating a new indicator which...

... is required to help the government: 

-better understand the social determinants of child and youth health

-monitor the collective efforts of the health sector and other sectors on improving the health status of this population subgroup.

Forgive my cynicism but could one include in that list 'to help the government look good?'

What we have is actual hospitalisations rising while 'potentially avoidable hospitalisations' are falling.

Doesn't that mean 'potentially unavoidable hospitalisations' are increasing?

Is that good news? Here's the headline:

'More Children Being Unavoidably Hospitalised'

Talk about spin.

The spanner in the works for separatism

 

More Maori men and more Maori women are married to or cohabiting with Europeans than other Maori.

Updated data:

Comparing the 2001 and 2013 data a number of patterns are evident:

1. There has been a small but important decline in the proportion of partnered Māori who

have a Māori partner. In 2001, 53% of partnered Māori men had a Māori partner. In

2013 this declined to 48%. For Māori women the decline was from 52% to 47%.

What happened to the 'shecession'?

Remember all the belly-aching by feminist pollies and journos about how hard done by women have been due to Covid?

Here's a sample from The Ministry of Women's Affairs:

The impacts of COVID-19 are exacerbated for women and girls.

Some groups of women will experience greater impacts than others. Women who fall into multiple groups experiencing existing inequalities may feel the combined effects of factors such as race, age, sexuality, and disability with gender.

Wāhine Māori and Pacific women are already impacted by existing inequalities while being more likely to have additional financial and caring responsibilities for extended family members. 

Women are often disproportionately affected by downturns in the labour market and that’s likely to be the case again with COVID-19’s economic impacts. New Zealand’s labour force is highly segregated by industry and gender, with women more likely to work in lower-paid jobs and perform unpaid and voluntary roles.

That was just a smidgen of it.  I countered with data showing more males had to resort to the Jobseeker and Covid Income Relief payments.

Well, the latest unemployment figures are out.

The rate for men and women is identical - 4.7% 

Politicking is only a by-product

Henry Cooke from Stuff says:

ACT voters are definitely more likely to be susceptible to racialised politics than the average voter.

It contains a odd word. "Susceptible".

In the context of the piece, the word "susceptible" implies that as an ACT voter I am being manipulated by the party.

Quite the contrary. I am relieved that there are some MPs in the house who share the same views as I do.

Yes, politicians play at politics. That's their job. To get elected to implement or protect the ideas of those who vote for them.

But the politicking is only a by-product of any issue that causes deep division.

Cooke can write his smug opinion pieces framing He Puapua as a mere plaything the right have latched hungrily onto - despite some of what it contains being already under way. He fails to mention the compulsory history curriculum demanded by the report. Or the UN submission confirming New Zealand wants to lead the world in enshrining the rights of indigenous people.

In the first half of last century I would have fought for the rights of Maori to be treated equally under the law. There were instances when this did not happen and that was wrong.

But to go beyond individuals having equal rights - for instance He Puapua clearly states that in some cases Maori would have greater say over resources - is dangerous and unworkable. It also invokes a chill about collectivism or tribalism which will not serve Maori equally.

We need to heal the division of the past (why the Waitangi Tribunal existed before it moved into the area of policy advocacy) and move forward together all sharing the same democratic framework.

I can't remember a time when this simple idea felt more remote.

Green MP likens Oranga Tamariki social workers to Mongrel Mob

Two Green MPs went to a hui with Mongrel Mob. I don't particularly have a problem with MPs talking to gangs. Problems never get solved without people talking. But I draw the line at this statement from one of those MPs, Elizabeth Kerekere:

“Let’s talk about the criminals here - let’s look at the recent uplifting of children. In a different world they would be prosecuted for their behaviour. They are protected at the moment, but we need to do things in a different way.”

This is absurd. Gangs are one of OT's biggest clients:

A total of 3,516 children of gang members were recorded as being the victims of abuse or neglect that had been substantiated on investigation by Child, Youth and Family. This is 60 per cent of the total 5,890 known children of gang members.

If those social workers charged with protecting these children would be "prosecuted for their behaviour" in a "different world", what could we expect for gang member's children? The mind boggles.

Kerekere says her favourite part of the Mongrel Mob event was meeting the Wāhine Toa (the women’s chapter of Mongrel Mob Kingdom), which the women in Waikato formed and is starting to spread out among the country.

”I’m very excited by this. This is where we see women leaders are stepping up inside that particular gang and across the country particularly in caring for our tamariki.”

"Women leaders" no less. What do we know about gang women?

The alleged perpetrator of abuse or neglect of gang member’s children was more often recorded as the child’s mother than the gang member father.

I shudder for the kids if this "different world" comes to pass.

 

Employing 'B' to make sure 'A' gets the job done

 Or, in other words, 

Deputy PM Grant Robertson setting up new 'implementation unit' to make sure Government policies actually happen

You couldn't make this stuff up.

Still, it's always good to start the day with a laugh.

Damien Grant: "Here's your problem, National: You need to take your leader seriously"

"Around 400,000 formerly blue voters abandoned National at the last election. If recent opinion polling can be trusted, they have not come back.

National’s review of why this happened is out, and a sanitised version has been released to the public. The report wants the party to focus on diversity and recruitment. Both recommendations fail to address the party's malaise.

National does not have a diversity problem, and even if it does, it does not matter.

I do not care about the racial make-up of any political party. Neither, I suspect, do most Māori, given that the Māori Party only collected 33,000 party votes.

Indeed, the last time National was polling in the forties it was buoyed by widespread Pākehā support, despite being led by two individuals with Māori heritage. If National believes that dragging Shane Reti around to every photo shoot is going to boost its support among those who identify as Māori, it has a shockingly low opinion of the Māori electorate.

National can embrace the Treaty if it will make it feel better, but diversity isn’t its problem."

More

"I think the Treaty has been breached"

Oh really?

This from the Minister for Children, Kelvin Davis, regarding Oranga Tamariki's uplift of Maori children and their over-representation in state care.

"I think the Treaty has been breached"

What else has been breached?

A child's right to be nurtured and protected?

The child's innate trust in their mother?

A families responsibility to rally around a newborn child to enure its wellbeing?

The Treaty being breached is way down the list of what matters to that child.

It's got months, a couple of years, to receive the crucial input it needs.

Meanwhile racial politicking drones on ...

Sepuloni "useless"

Peter Williams described the Minister of Social Development, Carmel Sepuloni as "useless" on his Magic Talk programme this morning. Specifically, because she had no idea how much MSD had given to moteliers etc for damage caused by "MSD clients".

Is she useless, or something worse?

Since 2017 Sepuloni has driven a culture change at Work and Income. On the surface, treating clients with respect and care (if they weren't already) is laudable and hard to argue with. WINZ offices are brighter, security staff are less visible, there are water dispensers and play areas for children. Away from the coalface, thousands of clients are rung to ensure they are receiving their full and correct entitlements.

This is the policy of kindness in action.

Long-established rules are dispensed with or overlooked. COVID was a great enabler in advancing this change of approach. The Greens, whose MSD spokesperson used to be a beneficiary advocate, should be pleased (though they never are). The Green Party wants benefits to be completely unconditional and open-ended. Last term Labour needed the Greens, and it shows.

The use of sanctions to enforce obligations has fallen away. Benefit reviews have been abandoned. Medical certificates too. Grants for all types of emergency assistance have sky-rocketed; denied applications have plummeted. 

Expectations have been established not just by visibly changing how WINZ looks and operates. But by more insidious messaging.

The promotion of victimhood through claims that structural racism abounds, and colonisation is to blame for every ill imaginable, used to be the territory of extremists. Now it is routinely promulgated by academia and other authorities. If not Maori, there are other excuses for disaffection provided by mainstream Marxism.

People on benefits have every right to feel resentful and aggrieved. So much so that bad behaviour is understandable. It’s just a form of protest bound to become more prolific.

But some (often blameless beneficiaries) who live in or near emergency housing feel very unsafe. The protestors doubtless sleep all day and come out at night to wreak havoc; do drugs, do violence and do damage. These aren’t working people who have to get a decent night’s sleep.

They are anti-social miscreants who arc between apathy and aggression and wear their alienation as a badge of honour.

Instead of a system that refuses to tolerate their destructiveness, we get a system which rewards them with no-strings-attached cash and plenty of excuses for their defection from the rest of society.

Nobody has explained to them that the social security system was born out of shared values, shared compassion for genuine need, and shared commitment to fund it.

Certainly Sepuloni hasn’t bothered. And it is highly unlikely that the new compulsory history curriculum will cover what Mickey Savage envisaged when he created it over eighty years ago.

Green associate housing Minister Marama Davidson is appalled. The situation is unacceptable she says. Yet this is a leading proponent of an anything-goes benefit regime. Is she really surprised at what such a mushy modus operandi results in?

A much harder line must be taken with offenders. They will be breaking multiple laws and for the sake of those in closest proximity – those in genuine, unavoidable need – the very least that should happen is a threat to immediately end their benefit entitlement. Whatever ensues, we have a police force to deal with.

Someone needs to get – and someone needs to give – the correct message: you can’t keep biting the hand that feeds you.

Don’t hold your breath for that someone to be the person in charge though.

"Cuddly teddy bear"

Confusion reigns in some lives. A man is murdered. Coleman was his partner:

Three days on from the killing, Coleman told Stuff she wanted to know why someone would viciously attack the “cuddly teddy bear” her daughter thought of as a father.

Rose-coloured glasses after the fact?

 At the time of his death, Hawkins was on electronically monitored bail for alleged family violence-related offending against Coleman.

Tragic.

"If only they could talk"

Not a burning issue for many people I realise (though a matter of their livelihood for hundreds) but I thought the following two columns were a great example of contrasting opinion from two people; one a politician and one a retired vet.

Opinion: Since only the beginning of 2021, seven greyhounds have been killed and 282 injured on racetracks across Aotearoa.

Take a moment to let that sink in. This is our dog-racing industry, one of the last still in operation in the world.

These deaths and injuries aren’t a bug. They’re a design feature, and they always have been.

Fifteen years ago, former racing minister Winston Peters launched the Greyhounds As Pets adoption scheme, seeking to improve the public perception of the industry’s approach to animal welfare.

In 2017, he reflected on that moment 11 years prior, lamenting: “It is disappointing the industry is still grappling with these underlying issues”.

Those underlying issues are greyhound deaths, injuries, and the occasional meth-doping scandal.

Seven greyhounds have been killed and 282 injured on racetracks across Aotearoa so far this year.

Time and again, the industry argues that it loves these dogs. I would hope that anyone who loves their dogs would have learnt from nearly 20 years of broken legs and ankles, ruptured stomachs and trauma that, just maybe, they should stop doing the same thing over and over again.

Because we’ve been here before.

In 2013, the ‘WHK report’ made a slew of recommendations to improve animal welfare. Then in 2017, with disconcert from the broader racing industry, former High Court judge Rodney Hansen QC produced yet another report.

That report found: “The number of greyhounds reported as euthanised continues at high levels with evidence of widespread non-compliance with reporting requirements strongly suggesting the true figure is much higher”.

There were at least 1200 dogs unaccounted for in the four years since that last report.

Last week, the Government announced the third review of the industry this decade, with new Minister for Racing Grant Robertson stating he was “not satisfied the [Hansen] recommendations are being implemented in a way that is improving animal welfare”.

When the same questions keep turning up the same answers, and those answers are the mistreatment of animals, how long are we supposed to extend goodwill? How many more dogs will die or disappear in that time?

Greyhound Racing New Zealand will tell you greyhounds are athletes; they love to race! This is a sport! Research the breed, you’ll find out!

The reality is greyhounds are typically low-energy dogs with a light frame and, obviously, the ability to run fast. Because of that, these dogs have been bred and imported into New Zealand to generate income for the gambling sector.

Do they love to race? More importantly, do they have a choice? When the gun goes off and the gate goes up, the dogs run, because they’ve been trained to do so, and thousands of dollars are at stake in each race.

In an industry plagued by claims of doping, live baiting, animal welfare issues and kennel cough outbreaks, the dogs that don’t perform don’t make it.

Greyhound Racing New Zealand reported that 165 dogs alone in the last annual reporting period were killed ‘for other reasons’ – they’re too slow or too broken for the industry, and too traumatised to be a family pet.

The dogs that do make it out of the gate on race day are the ones that are still useful. This has nothing to do with ‘loving to race’, and everything to do with training and the window of opportunity the industry has to use them up.

The injuries suffered routinely are serious – horrific major bone breaks and organ rupture – painful, fatal injuries there can be no recovery from.

Athletes aren’t put down. But these dogs are, when they become a balance-sheet liability.

We’ve got plenty of other sports, and many you can gamble on if that’s really what you’re after. Those athletes have a say in what they’re doing and when they retire.

Greyhounds can pursue a love of running in plenty of other ways, like chasing a ball at the park with other dogs.

Or, they can be found nuzzled into the arm of a couch for notorious hours-long naps that come quite naturally, if you ask anyone who’s ever owned a greyhound as just a good old pet, not a bet.

Green MP Chlöe Swarbrick is working on a Member’s Bill to end greyhound racing in New Zealand.

OPINION: Recent comments distributed by animal activists and the SPCA reveal it is time to change the narrative about greyhound racing. Contrary to continuing claims, the welfare of the dogs is now well managed and previous problems have largely been overcome.

Since I became the independent chairman of the Greyhound Racing New Zealand Health and Welfare Committee in 2015, the major focus has been on the development and implementation of new health and welfare standards which surpass those required by the Code of Welfare for Dogs issued in 2010 under the Animal Welfare Act.

New Zealand greyhounds are probably the most regulated and protected animals in the country throughout their racing careers until they are rehomed at the end.

As a result of valid concerns highlighted in the past greyhound racing continues to be subject to thorough scrutiny and a third review in the last decade has just been announced. Greyhound Racing New Zealand is confident that all the required management improvements have been made as a result of the first two reviews.

 Greyhound Racing New Zealand has shown no hesitation to suspend racing in the face of disease outbreaks or adverse track conditions. In such circumstances, support is always provided to ensure the welfare of the dogs and the people involved.

Greyhounds have a lovely temperament and chasing is natural behaviour which they love to do, just as much as other dogs. Watch the obvious enjoyment when two or more dogs race to get to a ball that is thrown for them on a park or at the beach.

The concerns expressed by the SPCA and SAFE indicate a lack of current knowledge as the fears they have raised are many years out of date. For instance the SPCA says it wants veterinarians to be present at all race meetings, but this has been mandatory for over 30 years.

All dogs receive a pre-race check and a number identified during and after each race are also sent immediately for veterinary examination by the race day vet. In the event of accident or injury, adequate pain relief is available within minutes, as compared to the fate of working, sporting, and hunting dogs which may wait several hours.

Mandatory collection and publication of lifecycle reports has been in operation and steadily improved upon since the first 2012-2013 inquiry into greyhound racing. Subsequent inquiries have established that most of the “missing data” previously reported had been collected but was not in an easily accessible format. Similar comments apply to injury statistics and with compulsory ear branding and now micro-chipping, greyhounds are the most easily traced breed in New Zealand.

A further SPCA complaint that more greyhounds are bred for the racing industry than will enter is inconsistent with the reality. With the establishment of the greyhound Welfare Committee, the welfare code for greyhounds was largely rewritten with considerable emphasis on all welfare aspects, including adequate socialisation as young pups, restrictions on the number of litters any one female can have, and a ban on breeding from females over eight years-old, except in very special circumstances. These circumstances must be explained, in writing, to a panel of three veterinarians who have the absolute right to grant or deny breeding permission. In recent years the numbers of pups born has remained remarkably stable with any not making it to the race track simply entering the adoption programme at a younger age.

The number of greyhounds euthanased is reported to the Government, published on the GRNZ website and in the annual report. These statistics are not able to be compared with the numbers of dogs euthanased elsewhere in New Zealand because none of the other organisations that euthanase animals in their care make their numbers available. GRNZ has minimised the numbers of greyhounds put down through measures taken to limit injuries and support treatment; and rehoming programmes. With rehoming being the priority for all Greyhounds there is no time limit preventing the rehoming of dogs as they exit the sport. They are cared for until they are matched with the right family.

As far as the claims of over exertion go, racing greyhounds are elite athletes, with the top grade dogs the equivalent of Olympic competitors and treated as such by their trainers. They make every endeavour to ensure their dogs are fit and ready for the distance they will be racing over. Trainers know their dogs and do not ask them to exceed their capabilities.

Greyhound Racing NZ accepts there will always be those who do not support the racing of animals and want it banned. They are entitled to this belief, but it is important when opposing any activity that the true picture is acknowledged and misinformation is corrected.

Retired veterinarian Jim Edwards ONZM is the independent chairman of the Greyhound Racing NZ Health and Welfare Committee. He is also a former president of the New Zealand Veterinary Association and the World Veterinary Association.