Member for Orange Phil Donato has taken aim at deputy premier and Member for Bathurst Paul Toole after the latter described the notion of building a greyhound track anywhere other than Bathurst as 'ridiculous'.
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Meeting with 50 Orange and Cabonne-based greyhound industry participants at Wade Park on Monday morning, Mr Donato called out Mr Toole's recent show of support for the greyhound industry, considering he voted with Mike Baird's government to ban the sport in 2016 when the Greyhound Racing Prohibition Bill was passed through parliament.
"Let's not forget Paul Toole voted to destroy their industry, to shut their industry down, to leave these guys basically with no livelihoods, he was one of the ones responsible for that," he said.
The strong stance comes as momentum builds for Orange to be chosen as the location for a potential $15 million state of the art greyhound track and Centre of Excellence after flooding led to the shut down of Bathurst's Kennerson Park.
Mr Donato also revealed three sites are in consideration if Orange was successful in its bid.
"GBOTA (Greyhound Breeders and Trainers Association) are looking at a few alternative sites, (Orange City) council have showed them there's the old trotting track, there's a site near CSU and a couple of potential sites at Spring Hill as well," he said.
"Ultimately it's a matter between council and the GBOTA and to some extent Greyhounds NSW.
"My involvement is being a passionate advocate and supporter of the locals. Let's hope politics doesn't play a part in it, that the best interests of the industry and placed first and foremost.
"GBOTA are looking to sort this out fairly quickly, (but) I don't know what their timeline is."
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For greyhound breeders and trainers across the region, the closure of Kennerson Park has resulted in more travel and money spent.
Clergate-based Tyler Gibb who is part of the Hallinan family's greyhound complex - one of the biggest in Australia - said a track in Orange would be extremely beneficial moving forward.
"We have to trial twice every week, to go from Bathurst being 45 minutes away and now Dubbo (being an hour and a half), it takes up half our day with two of us (employees) gone - we have to trial eight to 10 dogs," he said.
"It'd make it so much easier (having a track in Orange), instead of being gone for half a day we'd only be gone for two hours then be able to get home and help out on the farm and do a bit of work - it'd be so much better."
For a number of trainers and breeders, standing at Wade Park on Monday is a homecoming of sorts.
When people present were asked who remembers the days of racing at the venue, almost every hand went up, despite 2005 being the year it all ended.
For Mullion Creek-based trainer Colin Miller, his memories of the former track were "good" but did recall it being "a bit small and tight". A proposed two-turn track for Orange would be anything but.
Having been in the industry for 40 years, Miller was more than supportive of a track coming back to the town, listing a number of benefits.
"It's not only fuel, it's time ... it's better on the dogs, they don't have to travel as far," he said.
After reflecting on the importance of the greyhound industry in securing his 2016 by-election victory, Mr Donato said the amount of support at Wade Park shows why Orange is the ideal location.
"I'm really supportive of this facility, as are the people behind me," he said.
"I think it (the turn out) goes to show the level of support we have here in Orange ... take nothing away from Bathurst, unfortunately their track has been devastated by that flood event.
"Race meetings once or twice a week ... would be fantastic for Orange, I'll keep supporting these guys as I have done from the very beginning back in 2016."
Mr Donato also confirmed he's had discussions with Shadow Minister for Better Regulation and Innovation, Courtney Houssos.
"She's got to take it away and speak to her colleagues about this, but it's something they'd (Labor) be very supportive of seeing here in Orange if they were in government," he said.
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