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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 6 Hansard (21 May) . . Page.. 1568 ..

MR WHITECROSS (continuing):

It denies them the right to flap their wings. It denies them the opportunity to mix in social groups of a number that chickens like to mix in, which is more like a dozen than three. Mr Speaker, these are the concerns that people have about the humaneness of battery cage farming. It is the conclusion of the RSPCA, for one, that battery cage farming is an unacceptable practice.

It seems to me that the egg industry is very slow to respond to community values on this matter and is susceptible to the view, explicitly rejected by the RSPCA, that commercial values on their own ought to be sufficient justification for what is, on the face of it, an inhumane way of keeping poultry. In the discussions that I had with people from the government departments, I was particularly concerned when I was told that mortality rates in battery farming systems were between 10 and 15 per cent. Figures as high as 20 per cent have been touted around, but 10 to 15 per cent was the figure that the department came up with. That is an interesting figure, because the inspection guidelines show that any mortality rate over one per cent a year is cause for serious concern.

When I asked the departmental officers whether they were concerned that there was such a high mortality rate, they said, "Yes, we are concerned". I said, "What are you going to do about it? What do you think can be done about it?". They said, "Oh, we are hoping that someone will find a cure for Marek's disease". This is the standard of scrutiny these issues are getting. We really have a right to expect a higher standard of urgency than just saying, "We all have our fingers crossed that they will figure out a way of immunising chickens against Marek's disease or curing Marek's disease". That is not really a very acceptable attitude on the part of the regulators to animal welfare codes.

Mr Humphries: What else are they supposed to do?

MR WHITECROSS: Your own code of practice says that anything over one per cent is extremely unacceptable, and the fact is that the mortality rates are over one per cent. Mr Speaker, it seems to me that more urgency needs to be given to this issue. Finding solutions is a debate for another day, but I do not think we should be complacent about the present state of affairs, and I do not think we should be treating this as a frivolous issue. What we are talking about basically is what is humane and what is consistent with our dignity as people and our respect for other animals.

Accepting that this code is, as I said, a modest improvement on the previous code, I would urge the Minister to take very seriously the business of pressing for a much better - - -

Debate interrupted.

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