Page 3890 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 23 October 1990
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As part of the process of preparing the policy statement, two episodes of public consultation occurred, including the publication of a draft policy in 1989. The consultation resulted in the receipt of over 1,000 pages of representations. An advisory body was consulted throughout the process. It represented the main organisations involved in animal welfare matters in the ACT, including the RSPCA, Animal Liberation, the Rural Lessees Association, research bodies, pet shops, vets and general members of the public as well. I thank the members of the animal welfare representative working group for their dedicated and constructive contribution to the development of the policy statement.
The policy statement sets out in detail what action the Government intends to take in relation to animal welfare issues in the ACT. The Government believes that this is a comprehensive statement of policy that will put the ACT at the forefront in Australia in this area. The most important action in the policy statement is that a new Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act will be prepared for the ACT. A Bill based on the content of the policy statement will be drafted and submitted to the Assembly. Adoption of this policy statement and enactment of the future Bill will provide a major improvement in the standards and administrative systems for the protection of animals in the ACT.
As the policy statement indicates, the Government will legislate to repeal the current Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. It will define the animals to which the new legislation is to apply as all vertebrates, except humans, including fish, reptiles and birds. It will legislate to appoint inspectors to enforce the new law; to incorporate codes of practice, some of which will be closely aligned to those used interstate; to specify the procedures to be adopted in the care of animals; and to establish an animal welfare advisory committee, AWAC, to provide expert advice on animal welfare matters. This committee will be representative of those sections of the community with an interest in animal welfare and those sections which use animals for any purpose. The legislation will also establish a system of enforced self-regulation to control and monitor the use of animals in research, including requirements for research institutions to operate ethics committees and to report to AWAC on research projects being carried out. It will also require intensive poultry farming to operate in accordance with a code of practice.
We will also be acting to prohibit rodeos in the ACT; to allow circuses to visit the ACT, subject to control by a permit system; to make it an offence to deliberately abandon an animal; to prohibit the conduct of animal fighting events - including making it an offence to be present at such events, so it is not just the perpetrators but also the viewers; to prohibit the release of an animal to be shot at; to prohibit fox hunting; to outlaw the use of animals as live bait for other animals, such as in the
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