Explanatory note

This Supplementary Order Paper amends the Animal Welfare Amendment Bill. This Supplementary Order Paper would remove the clause of the Animal Welfare Amendment Bill that would allow the development of regulations that breach the purpose of the Animal Welfare Act for an indefinite period of time.

The purpose of the Animal Welfare Act is to ensure that owners of animals and persons in charge of animals attend properly to the welfare of those animals. The Act sets out basic obligations of people to ensure that the physical health and behavioural needs of animals under their care are met and all animals receive treatment that alleviates any unreasonable or unnecessary pain or distress being suffered by the animal. It is unethical and against the core purpose of the Act to allow regulations that enable practices that do not meet these basic obligations to continue for an indefinite period of time. Any practice in breach of the act needs to be phased out within a specific time period.