The Greens seek to ban jumps racing in South Australia

Jumps racing faces one of its biggest threats yet over the next fortnight with the Greens making a move to ban the sport in South Australia.

The outspoken political party, buoyed by their new found national power, have launched an anti-jumps campaign and will introduce a bill to State Parliament this week.

Green MP Tammy Franks says she has support from both the major parties and a portion of members had attended a forum on the subject at parliament house.

“We had members of all the political parties and the independents hear what we had to say,” she told the ABC.

“It’s clearly been a point of contention in Victoria. We’ve got all of the research from Victoria that shows that this is not a sustainable industry.”

Unsurprisingly they also have the support of the South Australian branch of the RSPCA.

Sheree Sellick is the president of the RSPCA in the state and argues that there is an overwhelming case of evidence showing that the sport was unpopular with the public.

“Research that shows that people overwhelmingly are opposed to jumps racing and want it banned,” she said.

“The industry itself is being threatened because people are stopping going to races because of the jumps racing component.”

Thoroughbred Racing SA says it will strongly contest the challenge and argues there is widespread support for the sport to continue into the future.

The move has sparked furious outrage from sections of the racing public with internet forums flooded with responses.

“Interesting…I hope they have an alternative other than the Abattoirs,” ‘Poindexter’ said.

Also arguing the statement that racing was unpopular was this comment.

“How can jumps racing be unpopular with up to 100,000 people turning up to Oakbank,” ‘Gillian’ said.