Fenton Darien: Animal Welfare Amendment Bill — Procedure In Committee 
Fenton Darien: Animal Welfare Amendment Bill — Procedure In Committee 
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DARIEN FENTON (Labour) 
: 
 This is my first contribution to the Animal Welfare Amendment Bill and I know that is has been the subject of many passionate contributions from members who have animals that are important in their lives. I start by acknowledging Simon Bridges for bringing this bill to the House as a member’s bill and for once I congratulate the Government on picking it up. I am sorry that the previous speaker Mr King felt that he had to politicise this matter in his speech. It is a rare occasion when members are in agreement and we all think that something needs to be done and I was very sorry to hear that. [ 
Interruption 
] It was disappointing that is right. 
I also acknowledge the SPCA and the wonderful work that it does; what an amazing organisation it is. Labour supports this bill but we have some reservations about it. The main reservation is the issue of having harsher penalties but not having the resources to enforce them although I know there has been some increase in the Budget around animal welfare and we welcome that. I am really pleased that the SPCA has $8.2 million more from the Budget this year because as I said the organisation does wonderful work. But unfortunately we do not believe that that is enough to really enforce this legislation. 
It is very very difficult for animal cruelty prosecutions to be successful. I believe that about 10 successful prosecutions—[ 
Interruption 
] Only 0.4 percent of prosecutions result in a conviction. In 2008 14011 complaints of animal abuse were received by the SPCA. Only 110 of those resulted in charges being laid and just 58 resulted in convictions. The longest penalty we have ever seen for animal cruelty was 12 months’ imprisonment which was later reduced to 10 months. 
The other thing that concerns me about this legislation is the responsibility put on the SPCA. It is a wonderful organisation but every year it still has to rely on public appeals for cash in order to prosecute those who are clearly guilty of animal cruelty. I understand that in July last year the SPCA in Gisborne had to make a public appeal for cash in order to prosecute a case. Six dogs had been starved to the point where they had to eat their own faeces and sunlight could be seen through their hind legs. [ 
Interruption 
] I say to the Minister of Police that it is difficult to listen to this but there are some horrific examples. We are well aware of more recent cases that have been highlighted in the media and they brought the member Simon Bridges to the point of putting forward a member’s bill. [ 
Interruption 
] And it was stolen from him by his Government. There have been awful stories. 
If I may I also want to pay one other little tribute—to my cat. Everybody has talked about their pets so I thought I had better talk about my cat—[ 
Interruption 
] My hat? No my cat Plum. She is a genuine Service and Food Workers Union cat. She was found living under the floor of the Service and Food Workers Union building but she got the name Plum because she used to hang out in the plum tree that was nearby. She clearly had not been particularly well treated because she thought the plum tree was her place of safety. It took her some time to calm down when we decided to take her home. But the one thing I regret—and I love my cat; I do not think it can be classified as cruelty—is that we took her to the vet to have her spayed only to find that she had already been spayed. I have regretted that ever since and she pays us back. She makes us pay every day. 
I also acknowledge the member Sue Kedgley and her comments about farm animals. Those issues are difficult for us to deal with. In my former job as a union official I also looked after people who worked for Tegel Foods and one sees some pretty disgusting horrible and horrendous things in those factories. I do not think it is described as cruelty but we know that those chickens live in battery farms. I have been to those egg farms and they are pretty disgusting. I hope that we can have an ongoing dialogue about these things once this bill is passed. 
As I said it is good that we have some agreement on this bill. We note the statement in the report back from the select committee: “Some of us do not believe that increasing the length of sentences will by itself result in a decrease in cases of cruelty to animals”.