Thank you all for coming out tonight. It is immensely gratifying to see how much response we've had. Obviously, the Government didn't give us a lot of time to get our ducks in a row, given this attempt to legalise greyhound racing came as a bit of a shock.

But now, we are here. And we are united behind a common purpose: ensuring that the greyhound ban remains FIRMLY in place.

To be sure, I have my disagreements with the original ban, which I have voiced. Unfortunately, that original ban was poorly implemented by the UDP at the time -- that poor implementation saw some greyhounds slaughtered in their kennels by owners that didn't have enough time to arrange for their rehoming. That was a tragedy, make no mistake.

But the thing is, if we were to now suddenly reverse course and unban greyhound racing, all of those greyhounds would have died for nothing. For absolutely nothing.

And that is exactly what the Prime Minister and his Government intends. Sure, this was introduced as a Private Member's Bill. But let's not forget that, when it was first making its way through the House, the Prime Minister stood up and told the nation that he thought it was a "VERY good bill."

But I say to you, Prime Minister: this is not even a good bill, yet alone a "very" good bill. The Prime Minister also repeated the lie that greyhounds are still being killed, still being slaughtered. No, Prime Minister, the industry has had plenty of time to wind down. The only greyhounds that will be killed by the racing industry going forward would be those EUTHANISED by it if the ban is repealed.

If this ban is repealed, we will see the industry allowed to reform, and that will mean a return to the mistreatment and cruelty that characterised the industry when it was still legal. And this is a very special kind of cruelty.

Allow me to elaborate. Let's imagine if it was typical for us to force foxes to race for our entertainment. This hypothetical practice would be a cruel one, but it would not come close to the cruelty of greyhound racing.

Why? Because dogs have been designed by humanity. We have bred greyhounds not just for their speed and hunting ability, but also for unconditional love. We have bred these dogs to feel a deep, pure love. Whenever someone comes over to my house, my greyhound can't help but jump up and down, wagging his tail. And these are strangers. These are people he's never met before -- but because of the way humans have bred these dogs, he can feel unconditional love for total strangers.

That's the way these dogs are. They see people, and they love them. They love them not for personal gain, they love them not because they have come to know much to love, they love them not for any of the reasons that we love other people -- no, they love them because they are there.

To take a creature that feels nothing but unconditional love, to take that creature and lock it in a cage is the height of depravity. Yes, greyhounds love to run. But they love to return home, tired, and curl up on their bed. They love to be kept warm.

And yet in the racing industry, this is not the case. Instead, greyhounds are kept in small cages with cold floors. They are forced to piss and shit on the same floor they sleep on. Their thin skin means they lose body heat rapidly, and every night is an uncomfortable struggle. They are fed slop that makes them sick.

And then, when the time comes that these beautiful hounds can no longer win races, when they no longer win races for their owners, the lucky ones are rehomed, where they will age, the best years of their life spent in a cage, and they will be left to develop horrible joint pain from years of racing and sleeping in a cage.

Those are the lucky ones. The unlucky ones, they will be "destroyed." Destroyed is an industry euphemism. What this euphemism truly means is that these dogs will be murdered. These animals, who hold nothing but love for every human being, who want nothing more than to receive even a scrap of kindness -- they will be murdered because they can no longer make their owners money. They will die alone and confused, wondering why the boundless, unconditional love they have was never reciprocated. They will die thinking "how come nobody ever loved me the way I loved them?"

And here we have the PM, calling for a RETURN to this barbarism. He calls it a very good bill!

That is to say NOTHING of the human cost. It is to say NOTHING of the billions of dollars that the gambling industry rips from the pockets of people who often cannot afford to pay. It is, yes, generally the case that greyhound racing is the domain of the poor and horse racing the domain of the well off. This means some suggest there is a classist element -- they suggest that it's a sin to take money from the rich but not the poor.

But to suggest the ban is classist is totally backwards. It is not the case that horse racing is legal, therefore greyhound racing must be legal. Rather, it is the case that greyhound racing is illegal, therefore horse racing should be illegal.

But even then, a horse has been bred with companionship as only an auxiliary concern. Whereas dogs have been bred with human companionship in mind, and there is nothing more they want than to be loved.

And that is what we are calling for. We are calling for an Australia where greyhounds sleep in homes, not cages. We are calling on every Senator to vote down this abhorrent bill, to never again legalise an industry where the mass slaughter of greyhounds is euphemistically dismissed as "wastage."

If you agree, then join us. Over the coming days, we will be ramping up to a serious pressure campaign. We will do everything in our power to stop this Bill and SAVE Australia's greyhounds!