Ending the Cruelty - The Greens NSW Plan to Protect Animals

2 March 2015

 

 photos:     Margaret Perger and Mehreen Faruqi             Wombat injured and killed in logging operations, Glenbog State Forest.

The Greens candidate for Bega, Margaret Perger has welcomed a Greens plan to overhaul the regulation of animal welfare in NSW and end cruel factory farming practices. 

In launching the plan, Greens MP and Animal Welfare spokesperson, Dr Mehreen Faruqi MLC, said that measures to increase animal welfare outcomes are long overdue.

 

The plan includes banning cage egg production and de-breaking and the use of inhumane sow stalls and farrowing crates in pig farming.

 

Ms Perger said that the recent international media attention on cases of wombats being buried alive in logging operations in Glenbog State Forest has also highlighted the need for a more workable system.

 

“The case of Penderlea horses in the Bega Valley last year has highlighted the need for effective measures,” she said.

 

The Greens want to create an independent Office of Animal Welfare.to function without influence from the Department of Primary Industries or the factory farming or logging lobbies.

 

The package of measures includes:

·    Creating an independent Office Of Animal Welfare (the office) as the primary regulator of animal welfare in NSW.

·    Stripping the Department of Primary industries of its powers as the current regulator and transferring responsibility for monitoring and enforcement of animal welfare regulations to the office.

·    Double the animal welfare grants program that assist animal welfare organisations across a range of activities such as animal shelters and identifying and referring instances of animal cruelty.

·    Legislation to ban battery caged production and de-breaking in the egg industry

·       Bring an end to the use of cruel sow stalls and farrowing crates in the pig industry.

·       Strengthening ties with animal welfare organisations and the NSW police to better detect and enforce animal welfare policies and laws.

·       Drive change in the state’s animal welfare laws to bring them into line with community expectations. 

Dr Faruqi said that the current system is broken with many serious cases falling through the cracks.

 

“An independent Office of Animal Welfare would give the community confidence that animal cruelty is being properly investigated whether on farms, in backyards or in the forest,” Ms Perger said.

 

Ends.