New Zealand 2021 – Robertson Review into greyhound racing and “on notice” ministerial decision
Investigation & Exposure
In Effect
September 1, 2021
Summary
On 1 September 2021, Minister for Racing Hon Grant Robertson publicly announced that the commercial greyhound racing industry in New Zealand was formally “on notice” following the publication of the “Review into Greyhound Racing in New Zealand 2021” (Robertson Review), conducted by Hon Sir Bruce Robertson and dated 30 July 2021. The review, commissioned in April 2021, examined animal welfare practices, data recording, governance, and transparency across the commercial greyhound racing code operated by Greyhound Racing New Zealand (GRNZ), and assessed progress against recommendations from prior reviews in 2013 and 2017. The Robertson Review documented deficiencies in injury and euthanasia data recording, lifecycle tracking of registered greyhounds, transparency of governance arrangements, and the effectiveness of regulatory oversight structures. It made 37 recommendations across data and transparency, governance, animal welfare management, and oversight arrangements. Minister Robertson accepted the recommendations in principle, directed the Racing Integrity Board (RIB) to monitor industry performance and report back by end of 2022, and stated explicitly that failure to implement improvements would put the industry at risk of closure. The “on notice” framework operationalised through RIB monitoring was subsequently referenced in the policy pathway leading to the December 2024 Cabinet decision to close commercial greyhound racing — documented in separate Development records.
Background Context
Before the 2021 review, commercial greyhound racing in New Zealand had been subject to at least two prior independent reviews — the 2013 WHK report and the 2017 Hansen review — both of which made recommendations on greyhound welfare, data, governance, and transparency. The Robertson Review’s terms of reference included assessing progress against those prior recommendations. The Minister for Racing sought the 2021 review following a series of greyhound deaths and injuries and correspondence from Sir Bruce Robertson in his capacity as RIB Chair expressing concern about continued incidents affecting dog welfare and the industry’s “social licence.” A petition to ban commercial greyhound racing in Aotearoa New Zealand with 38,631 signatures was presented to Parliament in August 2021; the Petitions Select Committee subsequently expressed doubts about the industry’s social licence to operate in its current form. SPCA New Zealand and other animal advocacy organisations made submissions to the review process and had maintained persistent public scrutiny of euthanasia rates, race-related injuries, rehoming outcomes, and data transparency in the greyhound industry.
System Impact
Direction
Neutral / Administrative
Type
Exposes System
Significance
Moderate
The Robertson Review was published on 1 September 2021 alongside Minister Robertson’s “on notice” statement. The review documented that data on greyhound injuries, euthanasias, and lifecycle events was incomplete and not centrally recorded in ways that enabled effective oversight; that governance accountability between GRNZ, the RIB, and the Minister was insufficiently defined; and that prior review recommendations from 2013 and 2017 had only been partially implemented. The Minister accepted the review’s 37 recommendations in principle and directed the RIB to monitor progress across specified performance areas and report back by end of 2022. The RIB delivered a formal progress report in December 2022 indicating mixed compliance, with some indicators not fully met and continued concerns in specific areas. Separately, RIB data summarised in secondary sources reported that 325 greyhounds were euthanised across the 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons, including 174 at a single kennel, indicating concentrated welfare issues at particular training operations. Minister for Racing Winston Peters’ December 2024 Cabinet decision to close the industry explicitly referenced the Robertson Review and the “on notice” framework as part of the policy rationale for closure.
Anticipated Effects
If the 37 Robertson Review recommendations had been fully implemented by the industry and GRNZ, centralised data systems for injury, euthanasia, and lifecycle events would have enabled more systematic regulatory interventions and clearer accountability for greyhound welfare outcomes.
If the “on notice” conditional framework had resulted in demonstrated compliance with specified performance indicators, the immediate policy pathway toward closure might have been altered; the December 2024 Cabinet decision to close the industry indicates that the framework’s conditions were not assessed as having been sufficiently met.
Significance Rationale
Assigned Neutral / Administrative (impact direction) because the review and “on notice” decision modify oversight conditions, data recording requirements, transparency expectations, and regulatory leverage without directly changing the number of dogs in the commercial greyhound racing system. The industry continued to operate at comparable scale in the immediate period following September 2021. The later scale change — the 2024 closure decision — is attributable to subsequent developments documented in separate records, not to the 2021 review itself.
Assigned Exposes System (impact type) because the primary mechanism is the Robertson Review surfacing detailed information about greyhound racing’s operational practices, data gaps, governance deficiencies, and welfare outcomes — including documented euthanasia numbers and injury data — and placing that information into the public and ministerial domain. The “on notice” framework modifies the conditions under which racing continues (Modifies Conditions is a secondary mechanism), but the operative first-order effect is the exposure of previously undisclosed system conditions.
Assigned Moderate significance because the review applies nationally to the entire commercial greyhound racing code, mandates structured monitoring, and creates an explicit conditional framework linking continuation to measurable performance criteria. The 2021 development is the document-and-conditions instrument; its significance is in establishing the evidentiary and regulatory basis on which subsequent closure decisions were made, rather than in any immediate scale change.
Impact direction is Neutral / Administrative; the trajectory sentence is not applicable.
Within The System
Key Actors
Minister for Racing Hon Grant Robertson commissioned the review on 16 April 2021, accepted the recommendations in principle, and announced the “on notice” decision on 1 September 2021. Hon Sir Bruce Robertson KNZM, former Court of Appeal judge and RIB Chair, conducted the independent review and authored the report dated 30 July 2021. The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) provided policy advice. Greyhound Racing New Zealand (GRNZ) was the primary industry body subject to the review’s scrutiny and responsible for implementing recommended changes. The Racing Integrity Board (RIB) was designated to monitor performance against recommendations and report to the Minister. Associate Minister of Agriculture (Animal Welfare) Hon Meka Whaitiri publicly supported the Minister’s stance. SPCA New Zealand made submissions to the review and referenced the “on notice” status in subsequent public communications. The review received 1,156 submissions from across the public, industry, and advocacy organisations.
Editorial Correction Notice
Development type: Classified as Investigation & Exposure because the primary mechanism is the independent review surfacing detailed information about greyhound racing’s operational practices and welfare outcomes. The “on notice” ministerial statement is a Government Policy response to the review’s findings. The review itself is the development; the ministerial response is its immediate consequence.
Development date: Set to 1 September 2021 — the date of the ministerial “on notice” announcement and public release of the review’s acceptance. The review document is dated 30 July 2021; the ministerial response of 1 September 2021 is the structurally significant operative date.
Affected practices: Selective Culling is assigned because the review directly investigated and documented euthanasia practices and recommended reforms to euthanasia decision-making and recording. Conditioning & Training is assigned because the review specifically addressed training facility oversight and conditions. Other background practices of the racing system (Intensive Confinement, Selective Breeding, Live Transport) are not assigned as the review’s direct-action recommendations concern euthanasia, data recording, governance, and oversight structures rather than these practices specifically.
Scale & Prevalence: The figure of 325 greyhounds euthanised across 2020/21 and 2021/22 (including 174 at a single kennel) derives from RIB documentation summarised in secondary sources; it relies on industry-reported data without independent external audit in sources consulted.
Related records: This record is the precursor in the NZ greyhound racing sequence. The subsequent records are: (1) NZ 2024 – Cabinet decision to close commercial greyhound racing (9 December 2024); (2) NZ 2026 – Racing Industry (Closure of Greyhound Racing Industry) Amendment Act (1 April 2026). The 2021 review and “on notice” decision are explicitly referenced in those records as part of the policy rationale for closure.
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