They say every dog has its day. The greyhounds of NSW
are about to have theirs; challenging the NSW ban on greyhound
racing in the courts. But on what basis, and will it succeed?
Here's our two cents.
In a nutshell
Apart from closing down greyhound tracks, Baird's laws try
to completely stamp out the competitive greyhound industry in NSW.
That includes the breeding or keeping of greyhounds for racing,
even where the dogs are to be raced outside NSW.
The pooches say that this offends the constitutional freedom of
trade between states.
The right to 'absolutely free' interstate trade is one
of the few clear (albeit rather unsexy) constitutional protections
we have. It was included at Federation to open the trade borders
between the newly formed states, and overcome the problems caused
by intercolonial customs duties.
