19 June 2021

OPEN LETTER TO VICTORIAN GREYHOUND RACING PARTICIPANTS

NO CONFIDENCE IN GREYHOUND RACING VICTORIA (GRV) - A call to action

The Greyhound Owners Trainers and Breeders Association of Victoria Inc (GOTBA Vic) represents Victorian greyhound racing participants.

We no longer have confidence in Greyhound Racing Victoria (GRV).  Nor should you.

GOTBA Vic believes Victorian greyhound participants need to take action for fair pay, fair treatment and safe racing.  

Action will occur, first on 3 July 2021.  We have support from large, medium and small kennels for it.  Stand together to get change.

Stay tuned for further details.

THE GOALS

ISSUE	GOAL
Safe racing	GRV to commit in writing to a 5 and 10 year club works program, with a committed funding path, implementing key recommendation of major independent track safety reports.
Fair pay - Participant returns	GRV written commitment to return 50% of its gross annual income to participants annually, on and from 1 July 2022, to fix continued slide in participant share of the sport’s income.
Fair treatment	A commitment to introduce contaminant threshold levels across a range of commonly found feed and environment contaminants. By appointment only private property inspections in all circumstances save where a rule breach affecting greyhound welfare is known or reasonably suspected.  Basis for knowledge or suspicion to be delivered in writing on inspection. A commitment to not pursue rule/policy changes without publicly released cost / benefit analysis,  prior participant input and pre-change written feedback on consideration of that input.
GRV management	Independent external costs review of GRV administration, to be publicly released.

WHY THIS IS CRITICAL

For many years your GOTBA has advocated, from a participant perspective, issues that have real impact on the lives of participants and the care and welfare of their greyhounds.  Since 2015, participants have driven and effected necessary change, at significant financial and other cost.   

For several years, but again recently, GOTBA Vic has raised concerns re track safety, sinking participant returns per race / as a share of GRV income, and participant fairness.  We have done this with GRV, the Office of Racing and the Minister.   Issues are well past critical.

In GRV, under its current leadership, we have an arrogant, disingenuous (see table in Schedule 1) administration, hardwired to put participants last, usually under cover of faux marketing speak.  You are not respected in action.  Consultation is only a catchphrase.  Promises of change made and then immediately forgotten are standard. 

GRV changes nothing in lasting form, offers more of the same and its fellow bureaucrats support that. 

Fair pay

On participant returns, on a per race/meeting basis (the only basis that matters), Victoria has gone from first Australia wide to near last under the current administration.  It is Australia’s most costly per meeting greyhound jurisdiction to run racing.  Participation costs – compliance, basic feed, ancillary racing (eg catching) costs - have mushroomed in this time.  When last reported, participants received LESS PER MEETING ON AVERAGE THAN 6 YEARS AGO.

GRV has for seven years driven participant % returns lower to fund exploding wage bills for administrators, consultant fees and media contracts.   The money is not going to clubs (particularly coursing).  It has not gone to infrastructure.   Participants returns have been – are - diverted to the tune of $7m -$10m per year.

Major, permanent change is needed. This is not all about individual increases.

In March 2021 GRV refused point blank to guarantee ANY minimum % return of its income to participants.  You (therefore your greyhounds too) do NOT get a fair share.  Check out the table at the end of this letter.

‘Record prizemoney’ is a charade. On prizemoney, GRV will likely return in financial year 20-21 the lowest % of its revenue to participants this century: disguised under cover of unwarranted – and unconsulted – race program expansion used to fund administrative cost blowout. 

This expansion strategy is bad for you, bad for your ability to care for dogs, bad for the ability to rehome more of them and bad for track safety (trial and race load on tracks with persistently long-term underfunded infrastructure).

We no longer have confidence in GRV permanently giving fair pay to participants.

Safe racing

On track safety, GRV has failed to action many independent expert track safety recommendations.  Capital expenditure was habitually deferred pre-COVID to minimise GRV losses. 

Despite major trainers in 2020 coming together with track preparation concerns in crisis meetings in which promises were made by GRV, we still see, for example, unsafe racing and major injuries after extensive harrowing of tracks far too close to meetings/trials.

We no longer have confidence in GRV ensuring safe racing.

Fair treatment

On participant fairness, GRV refuses to recognise the impact of the extensive issue of feed or other cross-contamination and actively promotes rules or policies that treat participants like criminals in all but name for obviously accidental occurrences, where race and welfare impact is non-existent.  It recently, with a tin ear, indicated a doubling down of this.  

GRV refuses to listen to and action real concerns.  It routinely approves rule changes, then ‘consults’ on them.  There is a distinct culture at GRV of treating participants as little more than serfs.

We no longer have confidence in GRV treating participants fairly and respectfully.

WHY PARTICPANT ACTION IS NEEDED

GOTBA Vic has received no comfort from GRV that the current administration gets it, or participant anger. 

GRV tries to freeze out critics.  Pushed into any corner, it makes long term, vague ‘promises’ that it bins.  No change will happen…unless you make it happen.

GRV will respect participants only through collective action that continues until goals are achieved.

We call on Victorian participants.  Nothing will change unless you make it.

THE COMMITTEE

GOTBA VICTORIA

Arrogance and unfairness – in GRV’s own words and figures (all figures GRV reports)

	2013/14 (unless stated)	2018/19 – BEFORE COVID	2019/20 – DURING COVID
Ave prizemoney per meeting held	$39,029	$39,108 (a reduction, inflation adjusted)	$38,147 (real reduction)
Race meetings held	1071	1189	1198
GRV total annual revenue	$78.3m	$103.6m (up 32%)	$106.7m
% total prizemoney to GRV revenue [1% = ¬ $1m in 18/19, 19/20]	53.4%	44.9% (down 8.5%)	42.9% (down 2%) – including a $800k REDUCTION in prizemoney despite more meetings/races
PRIZEMONEY IF 50% MIN RETURN of GRV INCOME to PARTICIPANTS	$39.15m	$51.8m ($5.3m more than actually paid)	$53.35m ($7.65m more than actually paid)
GRV’s attitude on display – COVID – GRV expenses v Participants Peita DUNCAN (GRV Chair) to GOTBA Vic in writing April 2020:  "In order to minimise the impact of COVID-19, GRV has recently commenced its implementation of our substantial cost containment strategy to help drive significant cost reductions across the business, while also seeking to protect stake money." Minister Pakula: Public Accounts and Estimates Committee June 2020:  Greyhound Racing Victoria has advised that it has reduced its administrative costs during the COVID-19 pandemic by approximately $860,000 per month. WHAT HAPPENED = right hand column (note above: prizemoney DROPPED…)
GRV annual expenses (non-prizemoney, non-infrastructure)	(2014/15) $28.1m	$52.8m (up 86%)	$56.7m (up from 18/19)
Administrative costs	(14/15) $5.17m	$12.67m	$14.37m - (up from 18/19)
Employees (FTEs)	(14/15) 87	180 (up > 100%)	192 (up from 18/19)
Employee cost - annual	(15/16) $11m	$24m (up >100%)	$25m (up from 18/19)
GRV board wages/expenses	(15/16) $367,000	$671,000 (up 83%)	$836,000 (up from 18/19)
GRV CEO total remuneration	(15/16 – annualised) $375-385k	$430-440k	$430-440k (same)