Tuesday, 3 February 2026

 Georgie PURCELL (Northern Victoria) (21:08): (2257) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Agriculture, and the action I seek is for her to commit to a pilot program of in-ovo sexing in Victoria to eliminate the culling of male chicks. It might come as a surprise for some here to learn that every year in Victoria an estimated 3 million to 5 million male chicks are sent along a conveyor belt into a high-speed macerator and ground up alive. That is about half of all chicks born in our state being treated as nothing more than waste by the egg industry. Instead of pointing to the obvious solution of stopping egg consumption, I am proposing a clear pathway for this government to end male chick suffering altogether. The technology now exists to determine the sex of a chick before it hatches, and it has already been tested at mass scale in some of Europe’s most forward-thinking countries. Known as in-ovo sexing, it uses DNA analysis to identify male and female eggs before the embryo can feel pain, with over 99 per cent accuracy. This is a practical solution for egg farmers, where male chicks can be identified before hatching and the need for their unnecessary suffering can be completely eliminated.

Consumer support for this technology is already strong. In August 2025 a survey targeting Australian consumers found that 66 per cent of respondents were willing to pay more for eggs produced without chick culling, and 73 per cent believed the industry should adopt in-ovo sexing, once they were informed about the routine killing of male chicks. Germany, France and Austria have already banned male chick killing, and Italy will follow by the end of this year. Other countries, including the United States and the Netherlands, have adopted in-ovo sexing voluntarily or through industry-led programs. The Australian Animal Welfare Standards and Guidelines for Poultry already state that when in-ovo sexing becomes commercially available it should be used here as well. That technology is now commercially available to Australia, and all states and territories endorsed these guidelines. Acting now simply enforces what has already been agreed to. Victoria is already phasing out cruel battery cages. In-ovo sexing is the next logical step if we are at all serious about animal welfare leadership in our state. I urge the minister to give serious consideration to this proposal and take the next step in ending the routine killing of male chicks in Victoria.