Jumps racing to be banned in South Australia

Jumps racing will be banned in South Australia, with the state government backing a Greens bill to outlaw the sport.

Deputy Prime Minister Susan Close said jumps racing no longer had the support of the public.

The industry body, Racing SA, ended jumps racing in South Australia at the end of last year, saying declining numbers of horses and jockeys had made the industry unsustainable.

Dr Close said there were still members of the racing community who opposed the move, and that banning it by law would give certainty to the industry.

She said that the legislation was designed to create certainty for an industry that has had a lot of uncertainty and a bit of internal turmoil in deciding what it wants to do about the sport of jumps racing.

Racing SA did not consult with them before making the decision to cancel events, according to jumps racing proponents.

The former Oakbank Easter Racing Carnival chair John Glatz said the move would kill the annual event.

It's going to be the demise of Oakbank. He said that Oakbank now just becomes like any other normal Wednesday or Saturday meeting where no-one goes.

Mr Glatz said that while the Greens had been successful in outlawing jumps racing, he was concerned that it was the first step in a push to have all types of horse racing banned.

All this does is to give them a leg up, because they want all racing to be banned within four years, so all this does is just to give them a leg up, Mr Glatz said.

The chair of the Oakbank Racing Club, Arabella Branson, said that was not the view of the wider industry.

She said that some people are still determined to hang onto the past, but our members and community are more interested in building a new and exciting future for Oakbank.

They made it clear when they returned our committee with an emphatic majority last month, and we look forward to delivering on our vision for a vibrant Easter carnival to complement our other days of racing throughout the year. Greens say Oakbank may become more popular.

Greens MLC Tammy Franks said her party was targeting jumps racing because of her party's policy to ban horse and greyhound racing.

She said that the Greens don't support horse racing, they don't support greyhound racing.

We haven't seen a ban on jumps racing lead to a ban on flats racing in other jurisdictions. Ms Franks said she believed that the move would make Easter Oakbank races more popular.

People who didn't want to see a green screen that comes up because a horse was killed while they were having their champagne and wearing their frocks may well come back to Oakbank, she said.

Fewer than 10,000 people attended the most recent two days of racing over Easter, compared with 25,000 at the last pre-pandemic carnival in 2019.

The opposition said it did not support a ban on jumps racing because the industry was self-regulated and had already discontinued the events.

The bill is expected to pass with government support on Thursday, but it was adjourned in parliament today.

The South Australian laws will still allow jumps training, along with other equestrian events such as show jumping.

Victoria is the only jurisdiction in Australia where jumps races are still held.