Poultry industry
Georgie PURCELL (Northern Victoria) (12:07): (258) My question is for the Minister for Agriculture. Recently Australian states and territories signed up to the new poultry standards. It stated that egg producers would have to phase out the use of conventional layer hen cages by 2036 at the latest. The final time frame will be set by individual states and territories, and Western Australia has since pledged to act sooner than this. We have been talking about banning caged eggs for decades in Australia, and it has been eight years since the regulatory process began. Australia’s biggest food retailers, Woolworths and Coles, have already pledged to be 100 per cent cage free by 2025. Will the minister commit to bringing the phase-out of battery cages forward across the whole of Victoria?
Gayle TIERNEY (Western Victoria – Minister for Training and Skills, Minister for Higher Education, Minister for Agriculture) (12:08): I thank the member for her question. She is quite correct in noting that agriculture ministers met in July and we dealt with the new poultry welfare standards and guidelines. She is also correct in indicating that the benchmark is 2036 and that the implementation is to be determined by individual states. Victoria will consider issues raised by industry and other stakeholders. We will be developing an implementation plan, and we will also be working to implement the standards into our new animal welfare regulations that the member is well acquainted with. The department had been very active with the industry leading up to that July meeting, and as a consequence that consultation has built up somewhat since as well in terms of talking with the industry about what the implementation plan might look like. I am absolutely aware, as industry players are very much aware, of what the market is doing and what the big supermarkets are doing and what they have publicly stated. So it is going to be interesting as to exactly what the timing will be here in Victoria, but also obviously having an eye to what the other jurisdictions are doing.
Georgie PURCELL (Northern Victoria) (12:10): Thank you, Minister. On top of battery cages, there are other animal welfare concerns across the whole egg industry, yet the code of practice is only voluntary. As you stated in your response, the government is introducing a long-awaited new animal care and protection bill, including new regulations for the egg industry. Will these regulations in the new animal care and protection act be mandatory instead of voluntary?
Gayle TIERNEY (Western Victoria – Minister for Training and Skills, Minister for Higher Education, Minister for Agriculture) (12:10): I thank the member for her ongoing interest in all things animals. Obviously part of our discussions leading into the exposure draft is about making sure that we try and come up with a workable arrangement whereby animal welfare rights are absolutely acknowledged and indeed animal production arrangements are also balanced. This has always been a point of tension – you know that, you live it – and of course that is going to be shining through in terms of the consultations that we go through in terms of the exposure draft. In terms of voluntary versus mandatory, again that is very much part of the discussions that we will be having with the community.