Tuesday, 29 July 2025

Fur industry

Georgie PURCELL (Northern Victoria) (18:41): (1755) My adjournment matter is for the Attorney-General, although according to the government it could also be for the Minister for Agriculture or even for the Minister for Consumer Affairs. Let me explain why. The action that I am seeking is for mislabelled fur products to no longer fall through the cracks and ultimately for a complete ban on the sale of fur in Victoria, but the problem is nobody can tell us exactly who is responsible for it.

Recently Collective Fashion Justice in collaboration with the Animal Justice Party launched an investigation into mislabelled fur being sold in Victoria. The item in question was a vest labelled as 100 per cent Australian sheepskin or Australian wool, but forensic testing by my office and Collective Fashion Justice confirmed the vest was actually the skins of two domestic cats and likely one or two rabbits. This is not the first time we have uncovered mislabelled fur using forensic testing, and I will tell you how I know that it will not be the last. On 18 and 19 June a member of my staff submitted five separate reports of mislabelled fur to Consumer Affairs Victoria with the presumably reasonable expectation that follow-up action would be taken. But there has been no response, and as far as we know, no action has been taken at all, nor is there any indication that this will not happen again.

Until fur is banned consumers in Victoria will continue to be deceived and animals will continue to suffer. The global fur trade is extremely cruel. Animals including foxes, rabbits, raccoon dogs, dogs and cats are kept in cages and deprived of any natural behaviours before being gassed, electrocuted or even skinned alive. This is happening in countries with little to no animal protection standards, yet we allow the final product to be imported and sold right here in Victoria, with consumers often completely unaware of the suffering behind what they are buying.

We know that fur is out of fashion. A 2024 survey by FOUR PAWS Australia uncovered that 69 per cent of Australians believe that fashion companies should reduce their use of animal-derived materials and transition to animal-friendly materials instead. Melbourne Fashion Week and Australian Fashion Week have not only banned fur but all wild animal skins and feathers as well. Even the state government’s own taskforce know that mislabelling is widespread, but it is clear that they just do not care enough to regulate it or they cannot work out who is supposed to regulate it. This industry is too cruel to fix and too outdated to justify, and so the action I seek is for a total ban on the sale of fur in Victoria.