The cases also included a matter at Dapto, involving a veteran trainer. He’d had a bad day; he’d been threatened by another trainer, and also by the head of the Rebels bikie gang, who was a neighbour. “I feel like my whole family’s been harassed and bullied by these trainers,” he told a GWIC hearing.

He let the stress get the better of him, he said, so he used his stomach to push a man, who then toppled onto a chap behind him, and made the second man fall to the ground.

In another case at Gunnedah, a man approached a woman who was working at the racetrack and rubbed his “penis and groin area” against her backside, before saying, according to a witness, “oh sorry, baby”.

The man later tried to explain his behaviour by saying he had been holding a dog that was attracted to groins, then, when a witness said there had been no dog present, he denied it had happened at all.

In a case at Casino, a trainer slapped an assistant manager across the face, and later blamed the extreme duress of not being able to pay his rent because his dogs had been scratched from their races.

A registered dog owner was also investigated when he tried to block a GWIC staffer from inspecting his kennels, accusing the inspector of being a “grub” and a “little f--kwit terrorist” and saying words to the effect of, “you’ll get turned upside down if you come in here”.

Animal Justice MP Emma Hurst said NSW should follow the lead of Victoria – which had a review of victim support and complaints across all types of racing – by holding an inquiry.

‘If GWIC won’t even require updated police checks after staff are assaulted, how can anyone trust this industry to protect its workers – or the animals in their care?’

Animal Justice MP Emma Hurst

“My call for papers into physical and sexual abuse, assault and harassment within the NSW greyhound racing industry has unearthed some extremely disturbing cases, indicating that abuse may be rife within the greyhound racing industry,” she said.

“While many of the documents are now under privilege and cannot be publicly released, the documents that have been released paint a very distressing picture of the behaviour of many involved in this industry.” She called on the government to either hold a separate inquiry, or to widen the existing inquiry to look into the problem.

Hurst also said the concerns in the immediate aftermath of the Richmond incident, in 2019, that industry participants had not been required to have a police check when they update their registration, still have not been addressed. The aggressor in that incident would not have been allowed onto the track if police checks had been required, a document in the dossier said.

“If GWIC won’t even require updated police checks after staff are assaulted,” said Hurst, “how can anyone trust this industry to protect its workers – or the animals in their care?”

The tabled material also includes a letter from a steward to the GWIC leadership, highlighting that stewards were under enormous scrutiny, and saying the Richmond incident was a wake-up call. “The safety of the GWIC and track staff [is] imperative … we all need to return home to our families … without fear.”

The documents did not address assault and mistreatment of animals. But the GWIC website said 10 trainers had been banned indefinitely and two for life last year after breaching rules. The life bans were for trainers who killed several dogs, one by shooting them in the head and dumping them in a river, and the other with blunt force trauma to the head.

A GWIC spokesman said the commission had a zero-tolerance approach to conduct breaches.

People who wished to participate in greyhound racing needed a police check upon application, and they were required to tell the commission if they had been charged with an offence once registered, the spokesman said.

A spokesman for Gaming and Racing Minister David Harris said “sexual harassment and assault have no place in society and no place in the racing industry”.

“The [GWIC] treats all matters relating to participant conduct seriously and has a zero-tolerance approach for those found in breach of the rules,” the spokesman said.

“I am informed that in instances of criminal conduct, GWIC refers these matters to the NSW Police.

“Allegations of criminal activity in the NSW greyhound racing industry should be referred to the NSW Police.”

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