Victorian farmers ‘disgusted’ by lack of draft Animal Care and Protection bill consultation

Farmers, hunters and fishers have been locked out of Victorian government consultation on drafting the most radical animal welfare reforms in 37 years.

VFF Livestock Group president Scott Young is “digusted” at the Allan Government’s failure to consult everyone along the livestock supply chain, as it drafts a new animal welfare bill. PICTURE: ZOE PHILLIPS

Livestock producers, processors, hunters and fishers have been locked out of secret workshops to develop a radical new animal welfare bill, which is due to be introduced during the first Victorian parliamentary sitting weeks of the new year.

Allan Government bureaucrats has sought feedback on its draft Animal Care and Protection bill at stakeholder workshops over the past two months with at least eight animal welfare groups - and just one farmer.

The government has sought feedback prior to releasing an exposure draft of the bill, which establishes a new duty of care for animals, allows authorised officers to override existing protections for hunters and fishers, and legally recognises animal sentience – the capacity to feel fear, stress and other emotions.

Yet despite the importance of the legislation to those who handle and harvest animals, Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action bureaucrats have only sought input on drafting the bill from one Victorian Farmers Federation member who has been sworn to secrecy.

VFF vice president and egg producer Danyel Cuccinotta, who freely admits her expertise is in poultry welfare, said she was forced to sign a confidentiality agreement that prohibits her from discussing the workshops with other VFF members, especially its livestock and dairy commodity presidents.

As for gaining feedback from other players in the livestock supply chain, Ms Cucinotta said “there was no-one from (livestock) transport, processors or stock agents” in attendance at the workshops.

Egg producer Danyel Cucinotta is the only Victorian farmer to attend workshops on the Victorian Government’s new animal welfare bill, and is prohibited from discussing the bill with others.

The Weekly Times contacted recreational fishing lobby group VRFish and the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (Victoria), who confirmed they had been excluded from the workshops on the draft bill.

Ms Cucinotta said: “We have voiced our concern to the minister’s office and Department (DEECA)”.

But VFF Livestock Group president Scott Young said “the government pushed back” in response to the request.

“We are disgusted by the process and lack of consultation with industry,” Mr Young said.

He said Ms Cucinotta had described the workshops as a room full of animal welfare “activists and their lawyers”.

But Agriculture Minister Ros Spence’s office said other groups would have the “opportunity to have their say on the new Animal Care and Protection Act, with the exposure draft to be released later this year”.

“We will continue to consult with all Victorians with an interest in these proposed laws - and the release of an exposure draft for industry and public feedback is a critical step to making sure the laws get the balance right.”

Farmers fear that once the bill is tabled in parliament there will be little hope of amending what are widely regarded as the most radical reforms of Victoria’s animal welfare laws since the Prevention of Cruelty to Animal Act was introduced in 1986.

Labor already has a majority in the Lower House and is all but guaranteed of gaining the 21 votes needed to pass the bill through the 40-seat Upper House, where it has 15 MPs, plus the support of four Greens MPs, one Animal Justice Party MP and the likely support of two Legalise Cannabis MPs.

The Weekly Times understands the bill will introduce a new duty of care on anyone who owns or interacts with animals, similar to the general environmental duty introduced under reforms to the Environmental Protection Authority Act 2017.

The duty of care would establish an obligation on anyone handling animals to meet minimum acceptable and enforceable levels of care, which would be established by an expert advisory panel.

The bill is also likely to grant “authorised officers” the power to declare limited exemptions to animal cruelty no longer apply under the Fisheries, Wildlife and Catchment and Land Protection Acts to hunters, fishers and wild dog controllers.

Dog trappers may be caught by authorised the new animal welfare bill.

In a hint of what is to come the government released an animal welfare action plan last year that stated the exemptions “create the incorrect perception that animal welfare laws are not relevant for activities such as farming, fishing, hunting and pest control”.

Farmers may also find themselves banned from undertaking essential husbandry, such as pulling calves, due to such practices being defined as veterinarian-only procedures.

Apart from welfare groups it appears the only other groups represented at the workshops were the Victorian division of the Australian Veterinary Association and Racing Victoria.

The recreational and commercial fishing industry has not been consulted on the new bill.