Animal welfare
Georgie PURCELL (Northern Victoria) (12:07): (235) My question is for the minister representing the Minister for Medical Research. The forced swim test is exactly as the name suggests. Mice and rats are trapped in a deep cylinder of water with no escape, and the amount of time is measured until they give up or perform only the necessary movements required to keep their heads above water. The test was designed as a screening test for antidepressant drugs. However, since then, many have described the inhumane test as irrelevant to examining depression in humans. Despite new technologies being developed overseas that could eliminate the need to use animals in depression studies, near-drowning experiments are not only still legal in Victoria but undertaken across a number of locations. Can the minister provide a list of facilities that still use the cruel forced swim test in Victoria?
Lizzie BLANDTHORN (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Disability, Ageing and Carers, Minister for Child Protection and Family Services) (12:08): Thank you very much for the question for the Minister for Medical Research, and I will be very pleased to pass it to her.
Georgie PURCELL (Northern Victoria) (12:08): Thank you, Minister, for referring that on. In 2022 a New South Wales parliamentary inquiry recommended that the test be phased out, and in 2020 the University of Adelaide stopped using this test altogether. Will the minister acknowledge the inherent cruelty involved in these tests and commit to banning the forced swim test here in Victoria?
Lizzie BLANDTHORN (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Disability, Ageing and Carers, Minister for Child Protection and Family Services) (12:09): Again, I thank the member for her supplementary question and will be pleased to pass it to the minister.