Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I second the motion. If parliament doesn't act to put in place strong laws to protect animal welfare then no-one else will, because too much of our economy and our society at the moment is premised on the suffering of animals, and too often we only find out about it when brave activists, whistleblowers or journalists expose wrongdoing. We've seen that in many areas. We've seen it in the racing industry and, of course, we've seen it in the live export industry, an area which I've been proud, together with the member for Clark, to come in here and introduce several bills to ultimately phase out over time-out. But what we see time and time again are promises that things will get better but then they don't and the suffering continues. That is why what we have to do is not leave it up to brave activists, whistleblowers and journalists to continue to do their excellent work but, instead, put in place some strong standards to protect the welfare of animals in this country. That would start by having an independent office of animal welfare.

This is something that the Greens have been doing for some time. It has been our policy for some time to have an independent office. It cannot be an office that is subsumed to the whims of the department of agriculture, because that would just put in place a conflict of interest. It needs to be an independent office that reports directly to the parliament so that everyone in this country can have confidence that we are treating our animals properly and we are looking after animal welfare. There needs to an independent office that has some teeth, because we are sick of the scandals, and we need new laws to make sure that animals' suffering is reduced and eliminated. I commend the member for Clark for introducing this bill.

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