Great day I had never protested against anything in my life but matched on Parliament House in Sydney. The backs of two fellow Victorians Eddie Caruana and Paul Bartolo. Plenty of us were there.
Jeff Collerson – They thought nobody gave a hoot about the dogs. I took Alan Jones’ former producer to lunch (John Wells) and gave him several examples of good people whose lives were going to be thrown on the scrap-heap by the ban. John said “put these in email form mate, Jones will be all over this!” and he was! Also great support from my old mate Ray Hadley and people like Warren Mundine, David Flint, Fred Nile and Miranda Devine, not greyhound regulars but people who believed innocent people were going to be robbed of their livelihoods and/or relaxation for no reason.
Ed Caruana – Yes Jeff your early efforts are well recognised and appreciated by all of us at that rally. Michael Baird and Peter V’Landys certainly underestimated the will of the people. Not a fan of Alan Jones but he was certainly a good voice for greyhound diehards.
Jeff Collerson – Don’t know if you have read or seen David Flint but I happened to share an uber with him from a function when the ban was on. He is a staunch monarchist and conservative but was horrified when he heard of the greyhound ban pointing out that Menzies declared the Liberal Party must always look after the “forgotten people” meaning those who did not have the backing of big business or trade unions etc. He said greyhound folk fit the “forgotten people” group exactly and for a Liberal Govt to ban their sport was outrageous.
Ed Caruana – Jeff, I am convinced that the V’Landys call for our sport to be banned helped the decision, he is such a powerful man in NSW. For someone who left Harness racing in disarray many years ago it amazes me. I exchanged a number of emails with him at the time and he gave me the impression it was all about revenge because GR NSW didn’t support some of his initiatives.