2018-08-24
Ms PENNICUIK (Southern Metropolitan) (12:13:10)— My question is also for the Minister for Agriculture. Earlier this year the government released an independent scientific review into the farming of birds and poultry. The Farmed Bird Welfare Science Review was written by the University of Bristol, which is world-renowned for its work in farmed bird welfare. The review was extremely thorough and independently peer reviewed by Australian and New Zealand scientists. Whilst it did not make recommendations, it presented overwhelming evidence in terms of the mental, behavioural and physical problems caused by housing hens in battery cages. The report also shone light on other practices such as forced moulting. Back in February this year in this place you indicated that this report would inform the government's position on what future poultry industry standards should be. Six months later I wonder if you could update the house as to the progress with regard to developing a Victorian government position.
Ms PULFORD (Minister for Agriculture) (12:14:08) — I thank Ms Pennicuik for the opportunity to provide the house with an update on the national process around poultry standards. Ms Pennicuik is right: the government certainly takes a science-based approach to animal welfare, as do of course many who operate in our industries. The issue of poultry welfare standards is something that ignites a great deal of passion in the Australian community — of course in Victoria, but this is a national process that we participate in and a national review that is underway. If my memory serves me right, there were in order of 600 000 submissions made — 800 000?
Ms Pennicuik interjected.
Ms PULFORD — Anyway, I think we can agree there were hundreds of thousands of submissions made to that national review process. The New South Wales government has been leading that process, and that is underway. My department commissioned a scientific review to provide additional support to our own decision-making processes, and that is a publicly available document. Industry are aware of it and we have provided it to the people coordinating the national review.
That national review is not moving particularly quickly, so whilst I know that there are lots of people in the community — people in industry, people who like to eat chicken meat, people who like to eat eggs — who have got a view on animal welfare standards in the choices that they make as consumers and a lot of interest in this, it is important I think that we continue to participate in the national process. It would be completely premature for the Victorian government to express a view ahead of that review being advanced to its next steps in terms of collating all of that feedback from all of those submissions, all of the science that is considered and all of the input from industry. When we are at a point of looking at where the next steps have gotten to, that will then be the point at which the Victorian government develops a position to take in those national discussions on this.
What I would say to our poultry industry — and I hope that they know this — is that we are very, very supportive of our poultry industry in Victoria. There are many, many people who work in processing and in growing in many locations around the state. This is an industry that has often experienced some real challenges in terms of planning controls and interaction with neighbours, and I think some of the reforms that we have done in terms of intensive animal industries planning have certainly provided some additional surety to participants in that industry. Of course many consumers now make choices about barn-laid and free-range eggs, and we all see that share of production, that share of the market increasing.
The questions that people have about how this review will come out in the wash sometime in what I assume is 2019 will be many and varied, but again our view about supporting Victorian industry to be the best that it can in terms of high animal welfare standards will be the same view that we take and have taken the whole time that we have been in government: to support our animal industries to maintain exemplary standards.
Ms PENNICUIK (Southern Metropolitan) (12:18:16) — Thank you for your answer, Minister. In fact the public consultation process received 167 000 email submissions and an estimated 2000 hard copy submissions. The collation of those submissions has actually been done by an independent consultant, and it was clear, as you said, Minister, that this issue generates a lot of public interest. The issues raised included the use of cages, beak trimming, induced moulting, stocking densities, lighting for poultry and slaughtering practices. The majority of community submissions are opposed to the use of battery cages. In your answer to me, Minister, you said that in this process you will be developing a position, but it is a bit of a circular argument. How can you go to this process without developing a position based on all the evidence that is there for you? When will the government release its position that it is taking to the national process?
Ms PULFORD (Minister for Agriculture) (12:19:24) — We are waiting to receive the next round of information from the national process, and the department is participating in that. In terms of any policy decision, there is no need to be making any decision ahead of the development of the national process. It is incredibly important that we participate in the national process and that we are part of the national process. I think the last thing that any of us would want to see is for standards to be wildly different from one jurisdiction to another and for that to have quite significant job loss and industry consequences. I certainly do not want to see that. I think it is a pretty open secret that the South Australian government have very aggressively pursued a greater share of the national poultry industry, and that has presented some challenges to the Victorian industry. But we absolutely support the Victorian industry, and the participants in the Victorian industry are committed to animal welfare and improving standards.