What is the state of animal welfare legislation in Australia?
Patty Mark: Australia has ‘recommended’ Codes of Accepted Farming Practice that, if in place for specific animals, act as a defence to an offence under the State Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (POCTAA). For example there are Codes of Practice for the Welfare of Poultry that cover factory farmed chickens (including laying hens and birds raised for their flesh) and factory farmers consider themselves ‘covered’ against prosecution under the POCTAA because of this Code which isn’t even regulatory. However, for instance it is a violation to both the POCTAA and the Code to knowingly let an animal starve or dehydrate to death which is routine practice in the ‘broiler’ chicken industry and inside battery cages. The problem isn’t necessarily with the law itself, but with the fact that when it comes to animals on factory farms there is no law enforcement to speak of. BB: The intensive caging of layer hens has been one of the main campaigns of animal rights groups in Australia since the 197
