Page 1472 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 11 August 1992
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that into a more enlightened time. So there has not been the view that we should act on the occasions when a tiger has come in a relatively small cage, as it has been coming for decades.
Mr De Domenico: When did that change?
MR WOOD: I think we are now in the process of changing. Some of us are in the process of changing. Mr De Domenico and later Mr Westende got themselves into trouble with a double argument, if you like.
The second reason there have been no prosecutions is that the present Act, the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, is simply inadequate. There is a whole page of definitions of cruelty. I am sure I have heard Mr Humphries in this chamber before today argue for simplicity in the law. Any solicitor, any legal person worth his or her salt, could drive a great vehicle through these definitions because they are so prescriptive. If you can find a case that is not covered, you are not guilty. It is as simple as that. In general, these days simple language, well understood, is better every time in legislation, and Mr Humphries nods his head. We need to get away from that page of definitions to what we have in the new legislation, which is something simple. I invite Mr Connolly to expand on that in due course. He can say it better than anybody else in this house.
Mr De Domenico, as with Mr Westende, raised the question of the lawyer, Mr Colquhoun, whom I do not know. He has raised the issue I have just covered. He claims that the new legislation does not define cruelty. It is my assertion - I believe that it is also Mr Humphries's assertion, judging from the nod of his head a moment ago - that simple language is better; that this legislation is a more effective way to protect animals and for those who deal with animals. To answer another one of Mr De Domenico's questions, I can assert that there are no problems for racing that they are not presently monitoring and controlling themselves. There are no problems coming up.
Mr De Domenico: Why do you not let circuses do that then? If the racing industry can do it, what is wrong with the circus industry doing it too?
MR WOOD: That is a very different field. Racehorses are not so totally confined over a long period, over all their lives.
Mr De Domenico: What about when they travel from place to place? They have less room than an elephant.
MR WOOD: I think you are rather stretching it if you think racehorses are treated in the same way as lions, tigers and elephants. Ms Szuty no doubt has great concern about animals, and I detect that she is undecided about where to go. Maybe we can lead her, if not today then in a short space of time, to a more enlightened view.
Mr Stevenson quoted statistics. Well, Mr Stevenson quoted Mr Stevenson's statistics, and he might be right. I would not want to stand up here and say that this is necessarily a majority view we are expressing, but it is the right view. Like Mr Stevenson, I am a representative, and I will back up what Mr Lamont said. In this Assembly we are also leaders; we have to provide leadership. I would not make any assessment of how the community think; but, if community support is not over that magical 50 per cent today, it will be in a very short space of time. It is up to members of this Assembly to be representatives. It is also up to this Assembly to provide leadership.
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