Perhaps a bit late on this one, but still. I don't care much for Mike Baird, but at least he got this one right.
It seems to me that half the argument that's being put up against the ban, is that 'then horse racing should be banned, too!' Well OK, ban horse racing. Just because something else is as bad or worse or whatever, that is no argument not to take action on a matter that's clearly not working. Looking to another bad practice to justify ones own bad practice is ridiculous. 'We're ****, but look over there, they're ****, too! Come on, that's hardly the standards things should be measured against.
The ban did not come about without warning. As long as I've been in Australia (a bit over eight years), I've been hearing about problems in that industry and warning after warning has been issued to it. It's an industry which has persistently, repeatedly and without fail, chosen to not take adequate action. Honestly, they brought it on themselves.
Yes, it is regrettable when 'good people' get burnt because of the 'bad people' but it is by no means clear that 'the good people' made much effort to weed out the bad practices that were taking place among the rotten apples. Call it what you like, but it is difficult not to argue some element of collusion from the governing bodies and 'good people' when the ongoing result was that no improvement occurred.