Page 1459 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 11 August 1992
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up and rolled over, the audience regarding them with wonder and awe. What the tigers were meant to do in the ring as part of their routine and did not want to do, they simply did not do. Again, as their trainer said, if a tiger decides that it does not want to do something it does not do it.
Returning to their cage, they paced around for a short time and then lay down. Due to the weather it was pointless erecting their exercise cage because they simply would not have used it. When I asked what the tigers would be doing in half an hour's time, I was informed that they would be asleep. When I returned some time later, this was the case. Apparently large cats spend most of their time asleep. I admit to having some difficulty in coming to terms with large cats being confined to cages for most of their lives. However, and I believe that this is an important point, tigers are an endangered species worldwide and there is no question that tigers are breeding here in circuses in Australia in captivity. Surely we can encourage the survival of tigers by encouraging them to breed, returning many cubs to international zoos to ensure their survival and prevent their extinction.
I do not claim to have the last word to say on this subject. Although some studies have been done, many more need to be completed before we can be sure about the needs and care of exotic species in circuses. So far, on this issue, academics are divided, veterinarians are divided and community attitudes are divided. It is this reason, and those which I have outlined, which have led to my decision to not support Mr Lamont's amendments advocating the banning of exotic animals in circuses visiting the ACT. It will be up to others to further examine the issue in Australia and to determine the fate of these very special animals.
MR STEVENSON (8.44): I have long been concerned about animals in many areas. I have a small library of books concerning vivisection. I was involved in an organisation that used various cosmetic products and we always made it a point never to use products, firstly, that were tested on animals and, secondly, that contained animal products. That is an extremely difficult thing to do. The vast majority of cosmetics, hair care products and so on do contain some animal products, although most people do not know this. We used to go on for a long time with representatives who came down to Canberra and told us, "Yes, there are no animal products and they are not tested on animals". We would say, "Well, that is wonderful. Would you be kind enough to give us that in writing?". The reps would say, "Well, all right, we will do that", and usually you would never hear from them again. If you did, they would say, "Well, look, that is right; but they will not give it to us in writing". So I have had a long concern.
I have been a vegetarian for quite some time and, like most people, we are concerned about animals. It does not matter whether someone runs a cattle station or what work they do; the vast majority of people are very concerned about animals. Some are far more concerned about them than about people. They feel that animals give them far less trouble than people do. So I have a lot of mixed feelings on the proposal by Mr Lamont to, in effect, ban traditional circuses from visiting the ACT.
As most people here would well understand, I believe that the job of a representative is to represent the people, and we surveyed this issue over the last 10 days. The reason why we wait until the end of the time that there is for public consultation and debate is to give people as much time as possible to make an informed decision. I think that is important, because one of the issues often talked about is citizens' referenda. There have been suggestions by some
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