Greyhound racing will be banned in the State from July 1 next year, after a bill prohibiting the sport was passed in NSW Parliament early on Wednesday morning following a marathon debate.  

The decision will see an administrator appointed to wind down the industry and comes after several weeks of intense public discussion and lobbying from greyhound industry figures.

With the bill passing by 49 votes to 30, Nationals MP Mrs Pavey said crossing the floor and voting against the majority of her fellow Coalition members would have been a “a futile exercise in terms of outcome”.

Three Nationals MPs, Barwon’s Kevin Humphries, Cootamundra’s Katrina Hodgkinson and Clarence’s Chris Gulaptis, crossed the floor to vote against the ban alongside Labor.

Mrs Pavey said that listening to residents in her electorate led her to consider crossing the floor for the first time in her career, but with her vote not making a difference to the end result, maintaining political unity was paramount.

“Being part of a team is not always easy,” Mrs Pavey said. 

“Crossing the floor was something I was prepared to do, but I was reminded that political disunity is death, and, importantly, my vote would not have made any difference to the actual outcome.”  

Mrs Pavey said the greyhound industry would now have to “bear the consequences of the appalling behaviours of a minority”, with the industry’s leadership failing “its mostly fair and decent membership”. 

Mrs Pavey said the focus would now turn to the distribution of industry assistance packages for those impacted.

“I’ll be at the table to get as much assistance as possible.”