Beaumont Carol: Animal Welfare Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Beaumont Carol: Animal Welfare Amendment Bill — First Reading 
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CAROL BEAUMONT (Labour) 
: 
 I too rise to speak in support of the Animal Welfare Amendment Bill. I acknowledge the contribution of Simon Bridges to bringing this bill to the House although it has now become a Government bill that is supported by all parties. 
The timing of this bill has probably been forced along as a result of the huge public outcry following some high-profile animal abuse cases. It is fair to say that most New Zealanders treat animals humanely whether in a farming context or a domestic context but animal abuse cases are still too common and they are not isolated. I happened to be looking at some of my local community newspapers and I am holding up an example I found headed: “Family pet may have been thrown off bridge”. These sorts of things are sickening. I will not recite a big litany of cases; I too have seen the SPCA’s list of terrible cases. I think that when most of us hear of these cases we are sickened and disgusted by the sort of treatment that is meted out to animals both domestic pets and farming animals. As we all know in this House those animals cannot defend themselves and cannot speak on their own behalf so it is up to us to do so. 
I will not read out the main provisions of the bill as the previous speaker Sandra Goudie has done that. The basic points in the bill are first of all to increase penalties for some existing offences such as for wilful and reckless ill treatment and other ill treatment offences while putting in place a new offence of reckless ill treatment. There are two provisions in the bill that I think are very important and very useful. One is the strengthening of the provision disqualifying a person from having custody of animals and the other is the strengthening of the provision relating to the forfeiture of animals. Those provisions are very useful contributions to the tool box of things that we can do in response to the abuse of animals. I certainly think it is important that we are sending a message to New Zealanders about the view of this Parliament which is that we need to be tough on people who abuse animals. 
The relationship between animals and people is really important; I will talk a little about it. Other speakers—Jim Anderton Damien O’Connor Sue Kedgley and others—have spoken about the economic importance of animals to this country and about the importance of ensuring that we treat those animals appropriately because we should but also because there is a requirement that animals be treated humanely in order for us to be able to trade with other countries and to meet the consumer demand. 
Animals are very important to this country economically but also socially; I will talk a little about that. Clearly there is the domestic pet scenario. I am sure most people in this House either have or previously have had animals in their life as domestic pets or companions. Certainly my cat Sage who is 14 years old has been a very important part of my life. Animals also have a role socially in terms of therapy and I will talk about some of those roles because I do not think they have been mentioned yet in the House. We have not yet talked about some of the really important ways that having animals with people makes a difference. Animals are used in therapeutic care in the Maungakiekie electorate where I work. I am aware of the use of animals in schools such as dogs in schools programmes which teach children about looking after animals properly and also about the different responses of animals to different situations. I know that in one of the local churches in Onehunga animals are used in grief counselling with children. That is very important. Pets are increasingly being allowed in rest homes because it makes a difference to the quality of life of the residents. 
Animals are also used therapeutically in terms of treating people who are ill and are hospitalised. Again interestingly enough I have just gone through the local community papers and found a story in the  
East and Bays Courier 
 of 12 February about Ella’s special place. It has been recently opened and is a particular corner of Starship Children’s Health in Auckland where children can have their pets. It has been named after a young girl Ella who was 5 when she died in 2003 of an inoperable brain tumour and it is a memorial to that young girl recognising the importance of the comfort people get from being around animals. I think it is really important to recognise the relationship between people and animals. 
I will go on to look at the abuse of animals as a crime of violence. It is actually a crime of violence. We have a sickening record in this country of violent crime and I particularly want to put on record in speaking to this bill the sickening record of violence against children in New Zealand. The reason I am raising this record in the context of violent crime against animals is that I think these things are not unrelated. I believe violent crime—whether it is against another adult against children or against animals—has certain common factors. One of the issues I have about this bill is that it deals with one end of the spectrum—dealing with crime—and I want to talk about the other end. I want to talk about the prevention of crime. What are the causes of crime? What leads to people being violent whether it is against children animals or other adults? What are the causes of crime? We need to do more in that area. We need to look at the culture of violence in this country that makes it acceptable for people to behave in a violent manner and that can in fact glorify violence. 
There is a lot of research and information around the issue of empathy. People get the skills and the neurological links in their brain to be empathetic at a very very young age—as babies. The relationship between babies and their mothers in particular is very important. Where there is a lack of empathy in a very young child it can flow on to violent crime. There is a whole lot of important work in support of what we need to be doing around parenting to support young mothers. There are issues around how we learn to respect and care for each other and for animals. I have always had pets in my life; with my parents caring for our animals was a very important message. We need to look at all those areas in terms of preventing violent crime. 
There is certainly plenty of evidence about the links between animal abuse and other violent crimes. In preparing to make this speech I looked at some of the research. Certainly a lot more work is now being done about cross-reporting—that is when people hear about animal abuse they are also looking to see whether domestic violence and cruelty to children is going on in the same home. There was a very interesting report in the  
Bay of Plenty Times 
 about the fact that the SPCA routinely investigates complaints of cruelty to animals and finds other forms of offending as well. I will not go through all of the detail but there is clear information around the links between violence against animals and violence against humans. Often it is a starting point and people go on to become violent against people. 
We have to look at the very important issue of enforcement. One of the things that worried me as well as the need to perhaps do more in the prevention area is that we can put in place tough penalties but we need to be able to find out about the crime we need to be able to police it and we need to be able to monitor it and respond. As others have said the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has five inspectors and seven contractors for the entire country to look at what is going on mainly in terms of our farming animals. The SPCA does the absolute lion’s share of the work. It is a voluntary organisation; it does not receive Government funding. I place on record my acknowledgement of the work it does. I am sure everybody in this House would agree with me. But too few people work for the SPCA so if we are serious about doing this we need to look at ensuring that it is resourced to do the job. Certainly one of the things that American states have found in toughening up against abuse cases is the need for evidence to support prosecution. 
In winding up I concur with the point that Jim Anderton made that if we do not put resource into this issue then this bill will be simply window dressing. Thank you.