Animal Welfare Laws are about to change in NSW.
Petitioner:
Mr Stelios (Stan) Konstantaras
| Member:
Butler, Roy
| No. of Signatories:
22,656
| Date closed:
03/12/2021
To the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly,
Animal welfare laws are about to change in NSW.
The government is seeking to rewrite the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (POCTAA) which is being sponsored by the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, and the Animal Justice Party.
The changes are drastic and include for the first time the introduction of the Animal Rights agenda as a definition of what cruelty means. The introduction of the 5 Freedoms of Animals and the changing of the definition of cruelty to now be the overarching concept of Harm, and for the first time also including psychological suffering as a form of animal cruelty, makes any interaction with any animal potentially fall within the ambit of POCTAA.
The 5 Freedoms will become mandatory obligations to be met. There will be a positive obligation under the Act and therefore a requirement that the aspirations of animal rights organisations will become the minimum standards.
Further, penalties have been significantly increased.
The Minister or his delegate can by Regulation increase the policing of the Act, by adding any and as many new animal rights organisations with the resources and ability to aid in the massively increased compliance burden (including private prosecution), these could include PETA, Animal Liberation, Voiceless and many others.
The petitioners call on the Assembly to withdraw and abandon the review process and it not proceed to legislation.
