Thursday, 26 May 2022

Questions without notice and ministers statements

Fur industry

Mr MEDDICK, Mr LEANE
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Fur industry

Mr MEDDICK (Western Victoria) (12:03): My question is for the minister for consumer affairs in the other place. Last week DNA testing revealed that domestic cat fur is being sold on unlabelled items at Queen Victoria Market. The explosive investigation by the Animal Justice Party and Collective Fashion Justice made headlines around the country, and members of the public are outraged after being misled in their efforts to make cruelty-free purchases. This is the fourth time forensic results have confirmed flouted labelling, including independent testing by Consumer Affairs Victoria, which found 100 per cent of the faux items sourced contained genuine animal fur. The question is: what is the government doing to address the widespread problem of mislabelled and misleading fur products being illegally sold across the state?

Mr LEANE (Eastern Metropolitan—Minister for Local Government, Minister for Suburban Development, Minister for Veterans) (12:04): Thank you, Mr Meddick, for your question. I understand your concern around this issue, so I will make sure the question that you have asked is received by the minister for consumer affairs and you get a response from her within what is prescribed in the standing orders.

Mr MEDDICK (Western Victoria) (12:04): Thank you, Minister, for doing that. By supplementary: following a motion I brought for debate in 2019, the government committed to deploying a Consumer Affairs Victoria task force around Victoria’s markets to investigate the sale of illegal fur products. This task force found more examples of fur products being labelled as synthetic. Are Consumer Affairs Victoria still investigating, and if so, what are the recent findings?

Mr LEANE (Eastern Metropolitan—Minister for Local Government, Minister for Suburban Development, Minister for Veterans) (12:05): I thank Mr Meddick for his supplementary question, and I will ensure his question gets to the minister for consumer affairs and she supplies him with a response within what is prescribed in the standing orders.

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