I rise to speak to the first reading of the Animal Welfare Amendment Bill. I am proud to be speaking on behalf of the only party in the House with an animal welfare policy and a separate animal spokesperson for animal welfare. This is an indication of how seriously the Green Party takes the well-being of animals. We do have significant reservations about this bill, but we are going to vote for it to go to a select committee in order to give the public a chance to have their say and to provide input as to how it can be improved. It is a cliché to say that animals have no voice, but the reality is that animals cannot speak for themselves. They have no voice and they have no vote, and they are not able to make submissions on this bill, which directly affects them. So it is essential that Parliament really listens to those people with expertise in animal welfare and who speak on their behalf.
The focus for the Green Party will be firmly on ensuring that this bill genuinely protects animals from cruel living conditions and abuse, regardless of whether they are farm animals or companion animals. If after the submission process there are no substantial improvements to this bill, it is unlikely that we will continue to vote for it. This is because in its current form the bill will not result in meaningful improvement in welfare outcomes for working animals—in particular, factory-farmed animals.
An animal welfare bill is meant to be just that—a bill that puts in place legal protection to ensure the well-being of animals. That means the bill needs to address the current systematic practices that cause ongoing suffering to working animals.
In New Zealand animals work very hard for us. They form the backbone of our economy, with animal products forming 45 percent of New Zealand exports last year. As well as food, fibre, entertainment, and income, animals provide us with companionship, affection, and security. We should, as an absolute minimum, ensure decent lives for them. And quite apart from doing the right thing for animals, our reputation as an ethical food producer relies upon this.
As recent experiences around the safety of our food exports have demonstrated, we cannot be too vigilant on this front. Public opinion against cruel food production practices is increasing both in New Zealand and internationally. As this country, we risk a serious backlash if we continue to sanction the suffering of millions of animals that are killed on factory farms and elsewhere. We have been exposed on television to the appalling conditions that these animals spend their whole lives in. Most New Zealanders are repelled by what they have seen—images of hens kept in cruel, cramped cages suffering extreme feather loss, broken bones, foot deformities, ammonia burns, and pigs in crates with sores on their bodies. These animals are clearly suffering, unhealthy, and distressed. It is a national disgrace that as a country we allow animals to be kept in such conditions for economic gain.
The Animal Welfare Act places an obligation to meet the physical, health, and behavioural needs of animals in our care, and if this was enforced, then such cruel practices, such as those occurring in factory farming, would not be permitted. And it is not just factory farms. I have seen distressing photos that have been emailed to me of animals that have been transported long distances, crammed so tight that their skin has been rubbed raw to the flesh. And we know that every year thousands more animals experience extreme levels of pain and suffering in unnecessary and unethical animal tests. We welcome the improvements in transparency, but none the less there are some tests that should absolutely be ruled out. These practices are clearly in breach of the main provisions of the Act and they occur because the Act contains loopholes that allow them to continue. I had hoped that last year's review of the Act would result in a bill that closed these loopholes and ensured that the main provisions of the Act were properly enforced. Unfortunately, this amendment bill does not do that.
Of particular concern is clause 56 inserting new section 183A that allows for practices that do not meet the obligations of the Act to continue indefinitely. That is completely unacceptable. There is no room in a decent society for Government condoned cruelty to animals, least of all for indefinite confinement of animals in cages.
Parliament has a moral and ethical responsibility to legislate against such cruel practices for animals. We believe that this clause must be removed and existing practices that do not meet the obligations of the Act must be phased out within a specified time period. Animal cruelty is animal cruelty whether it happens to a pig, a cow, or a dog. Farm animals are just as deserving of protection from cruelty as companion animals. Another important area is animal testing and experimentation.
As I have said, it is great to see more transparency in the bill in this area, but we really want to see a clause added that prohibits the animal testing of both cosmetic and recreational drugs along the lines of Trevor Mallard's proposed Supplementary Order Paper. The reason for this is that such testing on animals causes extremely high levels of pain and suffering. It is completely unnecessary and unethical—there are alternatives to these tests—and it is completely and strongly opposed by New Zealanders, as we have seen in respect of the recent Psychoactive Substances legislation. With this bill we have another chance to get it right and rule out these tests completely. Such a move would be aligned with what is happening internationally. In the last year alone, animal testing of cosmetics and/or recreational drugs has been banned in Israel, in India, in Italy, and in all 28 countries of the European Union. It is time we followed suit.
There are many other changes we would like to see, and we will talk about these more during the select committee process, but we would particularly welcome a clear prohibition on the export of live animals for slaughter; independent monitoring of animals used in breeding, racing, and entertainment; and the establishment of an independent parliamentary advocate for animals, such as a commissioner with oversight of animal welfare in New Zealand. All of these changes would help ensure better outcomes for animals. We have a golden opportunity to become world leaders in animal welfare and ethical food production. It is time we took it up.