13th Nov 2019, 4:58 PM – Senate Motions - Horseracing - Royal Commission

The majority voted against a motion introduced by NSW Senator Mehreen Faruqi (Greens), which means it failed.

Motion text

That the Senate—

(a) notes that on 17 October 2019, 7.30 revealed that:

(i) horses bred for racing, and subject to interstate trade, are being sent to knackeries and abattoirs to be slaughtered,

(ii) the horse racing industry produced more than 14,000 foals in the last financial year,

(iii) footage of horses matched to the national industry's official record of thoroughbreds—the Australian Stud Book showed around 300 racehorses, representing almost $5 million in prize money, were detected at Meramist Abattoir in Queensland in just 22 days alone,

(iv) horses like Tahitian Black, who won $400,000 in prize money, were trialled and raced dozens of times for people to wager on for sport, and have been discarded at knackeries and used for pet food, and

(v) thoroughbred race horses as young as two years old, fillies and colts, and the brood mares that produced them, are ending up at slaughter houses and knackeries; and

(b) calls on the Federal Government to request His Excellency the Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia to issue Letters Patent to establish a royal commission to inquire into cruelty to race horses.