Georgie PURCELL (Northern Victoria) (09:53): I have spoken about my dog Aggie many times in this place before. For eight years Aggie was treated as a breeding machine. She lived on a concrete floor, slept in a plastic tub and was used to produce puppies for sale in a Melbourne pet store. When she was rescued, she had perforated eardrums, rotten teeth and mites. She was terrified of grass, terrified of being touched, and she had never known what it was like to simply be a dog. Last week, Aggie passed away at 16. Aggie’s freedom should have been a testament to Victoria’s landmark anti-puppy-farming laws. She was surrendered when those laws came into effect, and I believed her story represented the end of that cruelty. But the same puppy factory she came from is now back in business through a loophole and is even promoted as state government approved. A ministerial exemption allowing breeders to keep up to 50 female dogs was added late in the legislation to secure its passage. It was intended to be used sparingly, but instead some of Victoria’s most notorious operators are benefiting from it. Recently, strong community opposition led to the withdrawal of a puppy farm application in Elphinstone. While attention focused on the local planning process, it is actually the state government that grants the licences allowing these facilities to operate. A system designed to shut down puppy factories should never be helping them survive. After everything Aggie endured and everything she taught us about why these laws matter, the least we can finally do is get them right.