Wednesday, 17 May 2023

 Georgie PURCELL (Northern Victoria) (10:00): To many of us, our companion animals are family. They provide us with friendship, comfort, emotional support and a sense of purpose. It is often those who will benefit the most from a relationship with a companion animal that have the most barriers to getting one: the elderly, people living alone, disability pensioners, victim-survivors of family violence and low-income earners. Part of this is because across Victoria veterinary care is becoming more and more physically and financially inaccessible. The last Parliament unanimously passed a motion from the Animal Justice Party calling for a subsidised veterinary care system in Victoria much like our human healthcare system, which we called Veticare. As we continue to advocate for and progress towards this vital scheme being introduced, I have been proud in recent weeks to support two organisations that have recognised this gap and are providing access to veterinary care for some of our most vulnerable Victorians. It was rather moving to make a visit to the Regional Community Vet Clinic’s free cat and kitten mass desexing day in Castlemaine and also to see a dog called Sooay and her mum Dana, who is on a disability support pension, have their urgent vet bill covered recently by Pet Medical Crisis. I hope the government can recognise the importance of both organisations’ work and support them too.