How Are Australians Reacting To The Ban Lift On Greyhound Racing?

How Are Australians Reacting To The Ban Lift On Greyhound Racing?
Sandrine Atallah
By Sandrine Atallah



New South Wales Premier Mike Baird announced his decision to lift the ban on Greyhound racing last week and said the majority of the community wants the Greyhound industry to have a second chance. But what does social media say? Spredfast’s market director ANZ Adrian Mottershead, explores.

Since the introduction of the ban decision in July 2016, this has been a hot topic on social media with many Australians taking to Twitter to denounce or approve the new decision.

Spredfast, a social media software company monitoring what is happening on social media platforms around the word, has closely watched the reactions on Twitter in Australia.

Some keys findings were:

  • 43 per cent of Australian have reacted negatively to this announcement compared to 24 per cent positively.
  • 12,000 tweets have been shared on the topic in the first 48 hours of the announcement.
  • The main topics were #backtheban, #livebaiting and Animal Welfare

Sentiment towards the change

The top 14 terms associated with the news are:

  1. #grehoundracing
  2. #backtheban
  3. #greyhound
  4. #gnswpol
  5. #auspol
  6. #mikebaird
  7. #livebaiting
  8. #breaking
  9. animal welfare
  10. #stopgreyhoundtorture
  11. animal cruelty
  12. #9news
  13. #bangreyhoundracing

Spredfast’s market director ANZ Adrian Mottershead said “The spike in negative sentiment speaks for itself. Looking at the top 14 terms associated with this news, they are all strongly opposed to the change.  It’s clear that many Australians are deeply unhappy with the change in policy and the reinstatement of Greyhound racing.”

The conversation has been most germane to the ban reversal itself and why it was initiated in the first place. When the ban was announced in July 2016, the sentiment was largely positive (35 per cent).

Volume of mentions

Now, Australia’s response is quite negative, with more shared content about the hypocrisy reversal and continued abuse by trainers.

The top five most-shared tweets, all strongly opposed to the reversal of the ban. Three of the top five tweets come from Aminals Australia:

  1. John Johnson

  1. Animals Australia

  1. Animals Australia

  1. Animals Australia

  1. Protect Wildlife

Through the analysis of Australians on social media, it is evident that the majority are against the ban lift and demand for its reinstatement.




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