Choudhary Ashraf: Animal Welfare Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Choudhary Ashraf: Animal Welfare Amendment Bill — First Reading 
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Dr ASHRAF CHOUDHARY (Labour) 
: 
 It is my pleasure to speak in support of the Animal Welfare Amendment Bill. I first acknowledge Simon Bridges who initially introduced this bill which has now been adopted by the Government to the House. I am delighted to support this bill after all the horror stories that we have seen on television and heard about like the killing of 33 dogs and the kittens fed to pit bulls and filmed—those terrible things that happened to pets. 
I say at the outset that Labour members do not accept animal cruelty at all. We are totally against cruelty not only to pets but also as I will discuss a little later to farm animals. As human values and perceptions of pets and their welfare change over time we need to think about farm animals as well. In 2008 11000 complaints were received by the SPCA about animal cruelty. Out of those only 110 resulted in any charges being laid. Out of those 110 cases only 58 people were convicted. That shows either that judges or courts do not take the issue of cruelty to animals very seriously or our values do not cause us to take the issue very seriously. 
This bill essentially raises fines from $50000 to $100000 and the term of imprisonment from 3 year to 5 years. As the previous speaker Colin King said increasing the penalties will not make a heck of a lot of difference by itself. What really has to happen is for us to put some resources into the issues. For example 20 years ago one-third of animal welfare cases were dealt with by the police one-third by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and one-third by the SPCA. Now the SPCA deals with 90 percent of animal cruelty cases. The SPCA needs further resources to make sure that those cases are dealt with properly and the Government needs to make sure that it supports the SPCA to deal with such cases. The most important thing is to put more resources into dealing with this issue—for example prosecuting those cases costs thousands of dollars. So there is a need for further resources to make sure that animal welfare is looked after. 
The thing that I am really concerned about is not only cruelty to pet animals; as the area of legal practices changes around the world and the perception about animal cruelty and the treatment of animals changes around the world we also have to think about farm animals. As I alluded to before in recent times there has been a lot of talk about cubicle farming and also a debate about 1080 possums and sow crates. Of course we have been raising around the world the issue of whaling and the public is becoming aware of all those issues. Years ago many moons ago when I first came to this country— 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: Many many moons. 
Dr ASHRAF CHOUDHARY 
: —many moons ago—thousands of lambs died in the snow in wintertime and I wondered about the way we do farming when thousands of young animals of 1 and 2 days old were dying in the cold. The issue was whether we were treating our animals the way they should be treated. There is some controversy about cubicle farming in Canterbury. 
In one generation the perceptions about animal welfare and cruelty issues have come into our consciousness. We are always now thinking about how we treat these animals—and how we raise farm animals and how they should be treated. I think this is very important as pressure comes on us particularly from overseas markets where we send our live animals. There has been an issue about live animals going for the haj. There has been an issue about that and about the likelihood of cruelty to some of these sheep that are sent overseas. 
In my view we need to make sure that in the future we have a more comprehensive bill for animal welfare. This amendment bill in my view is just part of an ongoing issue rather than a solution. There is a lot of concern from the various animal welfare movements particularly from the countries that import our live animals. We export meat to some of those markets. The perception is changing. We have to make sure that over time—soon I hope—the Minister of Agriculture the Minister of Justice or whoever brings forward a more comprehensive animal welfare bill which will make sure that not only our pet animals but also our farm animals are properly treated and that we fulfil the expectations that are out in the markets to which we export our animals. 
As even Government members accept this bill by itself by raising imprisonment to 5 years will not solve the problem. I honestly say and I am sure that my colleagues on the Primary Production Committee will agree that this is an interim arrangement. In the longer term we need a comprehensive animal welfare bill so that we can— 
Sandra Goudie 
: There’s nothing “interim” about a law change. 
Dr ASHRAF CHOUDHARY 
: Well I know it is an important issue but I think we have to go to the next step. We have to look at other issues that deal particularly with our farm animals because as the perceptions change in the markets importing countries will have stringent requirements. As we know people are now tracing where our meat comes from. Some of these green movements and other similar movements require stronger animal welfare laws and regulations so we have to follow those. 
In a nutshell I say that I support this bill wholeheartedly and I agree with the Government and all of the parties that are supporting the bill that it is a useful interim arrangement. But in the long term we have to make sure we have a fully fledged animal welfare bill that can look into the issues concerning farm animals as well. With those few words I say thank you and I thank my colleagues.