New Victorian animal welfare act: Ag Minister claims widespread backing

A claim of widespread support for animal welfare reforms, including recognising sentience, by the Victorian Agriculture Minister is not backed up by the numbers.

Sentient: Who’s to say whether a chicken is happy, says egg producer Brian Ahmed.

THE Andrews Government is claiming the majority of Victorians have backed its push to develop a new animal welfare act to be delivered next year, that for the first time recognises animal sentience and enforceable standards of care.

Agriculture Minister Mary-Anne Thomas issued a media releases today titled Victorians in favour of New Animal Welfare Act, in which she states there is “widespread backing for key proposals that will further strengthen animal welfare provisions”.

Yet that widespread backing comes from the responses of just 900 people, who completed a survey on the government’s engage website, plus 308 submissions from others.

Of those 1208 respondents, just 39 per cent lived in a rural towns or areas, with the remaining 61 per cent living in metropolitan Melbourne and regional cities.

Drilling down into respondents comments shows rural and urban groups are set to be at loggerheads, especially on the recognition of animal sentience - meaning they have emotions, such as happiness and “the ability to feel, perceive and experience what happens to them.

One respondent backed the government’s proposal to recognise sentience stating: “with this recognition, all other decisions about animal welfare can and will flow on.

“In other words, if our legislation states that animals are sentient then there can be no avenue for disregarding this fact without directly contravening the Act.”

But other respondents warned: “since there is no agreed definition of ‘sentience’ or quantitative assessment of ‘sentience’, then it cannot be used as a basis of law.

Farmers are already nervous that failure to clearly define sentience will lead to disputes that will end up in the courts.

Werribee caged-hen egg producer Brian Ahmed said the question was – “Who defines sentience or if they’re (animals) happy or unhappy?”

“I believe my animals are comfortable and happy in their cages, but how will animal activists see it?”

“To me the question is not whether animals are sentient, it’s who’s to say whether a chicken is happy, one way or the other.”

The government is also proposing establishing enforceable standards of care under the new act, which would demand poultry, pigs and other livestock be allowed to display “normal behaviour”, which could also lead to legal challenges from animals activists and their lawyers.

The Victorian Farmers Federation has repeatedly argued the problem with using phrases such as normal, was that farm animals lived in a modified environment.

Respondents were also asked whether they supported ending exemptions, which currently allow farmers to use 1080 poison, land managers to set leg-hold traps, as well as hunters to use hounds and anglers to reel in game fish.

A summary report of responses found “just over a third (39 per cent) of survey respondents said they would prefer that exemptions were maintained under the new Act”.

“They referred to the approach of exemptions providing for agriculture and activities

such as hunting, fishing and pest control.

“About a quarter of survey respondents opposed exemptions as well as exceptions to the requirements of the new Act. This group believe that all animals should be protected under the Act, no matter whether they are used for agriculture or other lawful activities.”

NEW ANIMAL WELFARE LAWS LEFT IN LIMBO: 2018 ELECTION HELD OVER TO 2022