There are 80 recommendations from Michael McHugh's special commission into the Greyhound Racing Industry. The first recommendation resulted in Baird's decision to shut down the industry from July 1 next year.

There are another 79 recommendations that set out the minimum standards needed to let the sport continue. Many would be considered common sense. Why they were not already a part of the industry from a stronger regulator has to be asked.

The care of the animal has to be at the forefront of any sport in which they compete. The idea that greyhounds were not given the best care is shocking. It was the lack of accountability on so many fronts, from breeding to the veterinary care of dogs, that is distressing.

The appalling culture of live-baiting needed to be addressed long before Four Corners put it on TV screens. The sanitised language of wastage was used, but the death rates beyond 50 per cent are not acceptable by modern-day standards. That number might be under dispute in some quarters but the reports of deaths and knowledge of where dogs were ending up was simply not good enough.

Change has come at Greyhound Racing NSW under interim chief executive Paul Newson, and that is acknowledged in the report. However, McHugh wrote: "The Commission regards many of the reforms since February 2015 as falling short of what is needed to improve the industry."

The report continued: "But, that said, what GRNSW has achieved since February 2015, what it is doing, and plans to do deserves praise. McHugh has offered a guide as to how the sport could continue. It should be given a chance for at least a year to show it is strong enough to take the right actions and accelerate reforms, with the benefits of extra funding.

The recommendations include a Greyhound Racing Integrity Commission, which means the commercial and regulatory functions be split. The sustainability of the greyhound industry has been in question for a number of years and this would give it a chance.

Former GRNSW chief executive Brent Hogan told a 2014 select committee into the greyhound industry: "The NSW greyhound racing industry is not viable in the short to medium term and certainly not sustainable in the longer term." The reasons he gave were "increasing costs and regulatory pressures, as well as increasing risks of compliance with OH&S, Workcover and public liability".

Recommendation 64 states: "If the racing codes cannot agree on a more equitable distribution of TAB revenue, the Parliament of New South Wales should legislate to amend the current arrangements by providing for a distribution that reflects each code's contribution to TAB revenue."

The lack of support from the other codes might be self-interest because more money would flow to the dogs from this recommendation. But they also remember that Greyhound Racing NSW broke ranks with the other codes and signed a deal with corporate bookmakers, which it believed was better for the sport. 

Even if the greyhounds were restricted to 593 meetings McHugh found "it seems inevitable that wastage in the industry must remain at high levels". But the greyhound community deserves a chance to prove this wrong. It would, after all, be under heavy public scrutiny to do so. And with strong leadership fighting for the sport, it can reform.