THE ACT Greens are refusing to support an agreement to provide more than $40 million in public funding to Canberra’s horse racing industry.

The ACT Government is currently negotiating to re-sign an MOU with the Canberra Racing Club and the Harness Racing Club that will likely provide at least $7.5m each year for five years to the industry.

Greens spokeswoman for animal welfare Jo Clay says the party does not support the move, arguing there are better ways the money could be spent.

“We are dealing with climate change, COVID and homelessness, and I don’t think it’s the right use of $40 million of public money,” Ms Clay says.

“With median house prices at $1m, imagine how many public housing homes we could buy, or we could invest it into the Sustainable Household Scheme to help more people put solar panels on their rooftops.”

Ms Clay cited the funding allocated to some of the ACT’s sporting teams to put the funding going to the horse racing industry into context.

“This year the ACT Government will provide $2.6m in yearly funding to the Canberra Raiders, $1.78M in yearly funding to the Brumbies and $1.6m over four years to the Canberra Capitals and Canberra United.

“I think the community would agree that $7.5m per year to the horse racing industry without any public grant or procurement process is not a good use of public taxpayer funds.”

Ms Clay, who’s not calling for a ban on horse racing, said the Greens wanted the ACT government to commit to a phasing out the funding arrangement and commit to a plan to support workers in the industry.