Goudie Sandra: Animal Welfare Amendment Bill — Procedure In Committee 
Goudie Sandra: Animal Welfare Amendment Bill — Procedure In Committee 
[Volume:664;Page:11836] 
SANDRA GOUDIE (National—Coromandel) 
: 
 I am delighted to speak to the Animal Welfare Amendment Bill. Firstly I acknowledge the member of Parliament for Tauranga Simon Bridges. He is to be commended for bringing this Animal Welfare Amendment Bill to us all. It was then adopted by the excellent Minister of Agriculture the Hon David Carter. This bill has been applauded throughout New Zealand so we are delighted at the amount of response it has received. Do members recall that members opposite originally said there was no point in increasing the penalties for animal cruelty? We have to wonder at that especially when in the next breath the animal rights supporters applaud the Government’s move to increase punishment for animal cruelty. They say that stricter penalties should also be imposed on the owners of dogs that attack. The SPCA national chief executive Robyn Kippenberger said the move was long overdue. That has been said many times by members on this side of the Chamber. The person we have to thank for bringing the issue to the Government’s attention is Simon Bridges the wonderful member of Parliament for Tauranga who is doing such a sterling job. We are delighted that this bill has progressed so far in the House. 
I want to talk a little bit about the bill. We could all talk about our vet experiences with our pets—this is after all a wide-ranging debate—and many people in this Parliament would have had some sort of experience with their pet at the vet’s. I am sure it is a bone of contention as to whether taking a cat from its place of residence and forcing it into another home is an act of cruelty but let us not derogate from the serious intention of the bill which is to send a very clear message to those New Zealanders who treat animals wilfully and badly. It tells them that much more serious penalties will be imposed on them if they do so because New Zealanders do not condone such treatment of animals. The definition “wilful ill-treatment of animals” covers the most serious welfare offences. Under the Act as it stands it must be proved that a person intended to cause harm and the animal must be permanently disabled die or be destroyed to prevent further suffering. So those are serious offences. 
This bill expands the threshold for wilful ill-treatment of animals to include cases where an animal is seriously injured or seriously impaired. That will enable more cases of extreme cruelty to be prosecuted under that provision and penalties will be more serious in accordance with the seriousness of the crime. The SPCA is absolutely applauding this because some of the sentences in cases that have gone to court—for instance the prison sentence over the case of the kittens—have been declared by the SPCA to be too short. It said the sentence was far too short for the 30-year-old man who was heartless in respect of the serious injuries that led to the death of those kittens. This bill will deal to that and make sure that he is sentenced accordingly. 
I applaud the Minister for the $8.2 million over 4 years put aside in the Budget to boost animal welfare activities. That is a great move forward. I note that that fact was also recognised by Opposition members so I hope they continue to recognise its importance and the good work that this Government is doing to address many of the issues that are of concern to New Zealanders—not least animal welfare issues. We are making sure that these very serious offences against animals are dealt with in a much more appropriate way.