Welfare files kept secret as toll rises at greyhound ‘death factory’

Queensland’s racing integrity watchdog has refused to release records relating to safety and animal welfare at Brisbane’s flagship greyhound racing facility, citing the scale of material generated during the track’s first months of operation.

The Queensland Racing Integrity Commission estimated between 8000 and 15,000 documents fell within the scope of a Right to Information application, submitted by this masthead, that sought records about track safety and animal welfare at The Q – a $90 million racing complex at Purga, near Ipswich, which opened last year.

The request covered the four-month period from the start of trials in March 2025 until the end of June.

Despite the application being narrowed repeatedly – including limiting the timeframe to four months, restricting records to safety and welfare matters, and confining correspondence to senior executives – QRIC said processing the request would still require weeks of dedicated staff time.

In a formal decision issued this week, the watchdog refused to deal with the application under section 41 of Queensland’s Right to Information Act, which allows agencies to refuse requests that would unreasonably divert resources from their core functions.

Coalition for the Protection of Greyhounds president Amy MacMahon said the estimated document count reinforced concerns long raised by advocates.

“This volume of documents underlines what we already know – The Q is one of the most dangerous greyhound tracks in the country, killing dozens of greyhounds, and injuring hundreds more,” she said.

“The state government spent at least $44 million of Queenslanders’ money to build a greyhound injury and death factory, all for the sake of gambling profits.”

QRIC has not released details about the content of the documents captured by the request, nor the proportion that relate directly to injuries, track conditions or veterinary interventions, noting that each document would need to be assessed individually.

But MacMahon, a former state Greens MP, said the quantity of internal material was significant in itself, regardless of what each document contained.

“When you reach the point where there’s too much welfare information to look at, that becomes just as significant as the incidents themselves,” she said.

“The volume alone underlines the need to close The Q and phase out greyhound racing.”

Asked whether the volume of material raised questions about welfare conditions at the track, Racing Minister Tim Mander pointed the finger at the former Labor government.

“The $90 million The Q was commissioned and constructed under the former Labor government, and the Crisafulli government will ensure that QRIC and Racing Queensland take every step to ensure it meets animal welfare standards,” he said.

The Q was certified and opened last year, nine months into the LNP government’s term, with oversight from Mander.

The three-track venue, which opened following trials earlier in 2025, was promoted by the state government as a world-class racing venue designed to improve safety outcomes.

Late last year, as greyhound deaths at The Q reached 21, this masthead revealed Racing Queensland considered temporarily abandoning the flagship facility if the spate of deaths continued.

MacMahon said Coalition for the Protection of Greyhounds data showed the number of dead greyhounds had risen to 32 – a figure Racing Queensland did not dispute.

QRIC’s decision does not claim the documents are exempt from release on sensitivity grounds, only that the number of records involved makes the request impractical to process within available resources.

For MacMahon, that reasoning highlighted broader concerns about public oversight.

“We know for a fact that the majority of Queenslanders oppose greyhound racing, and most people would be pretty disgusted to learn just how bad things at The Q really are,” she said.

“The Queensland government has little interest in transparency, and clearly no interest in letting everyday Queenslanders know about a track that the public helped pay for.”

MacMahon called for broader disclosure of welfare information across the sector, including public access to greyhound tracking data and injury records.

A Racing Queensland spokesman did not answer questions about the volume of documentation, but said injury rates at The Q were on the decline.

“Since racing commenced at The Q, the serious injury rate has all but halved year-on-year, with 99.8 per cent of greyhounds that race at The Q doing so without sustaining a serious injury,” he said.