Animal Welfare

Animal Health & Welfare

Policy Position

The NFF has zero tolerance for animal cruelty. To improve animal husbandry and to develop best practice for production animals, the government needs to work in partnership with industry.

Issue

Good animal welfare is consistent with good farming because high quality agricultural products require healthy animals and excellence in animal care. Farmers are strong advocates of good animal health and welfare outcomes.

Australia has strict state legislation governing animal production and welfare. These laws differ from state to state, making animal welfare complicated.

In general, animal cruelty is defined as direct acts of cruelty and as neglect of animals by a person responsible for the animal’s wellbeing. Challenges in enforcing animal welfare are at present the monitoring of animal husbandry, the accreditation of quality assurance and the funding of independent auditing programs.

Current animal welfare codes neglect the practical realities of production, necessitating a coherent industry wide framework and strategy for production animal welfare issues.

Our Vision

To champion best practice in animal husbandry, the NFF would suggest the following measures:

• Provide greater resources to animal welfare regulators to permit more effective surveillance and to support accredited quality assurance through independent auditing programs.
• Solidify Australia’s international leading role in animal welfare by harmonising animal welfare standards and guidelines across all states and territories.