Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Amendment (Puppy Farming) Bill 2024

Mr GREG PIPER (Lake Macquarie): I welcome and strongly support the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Amendment (Puppy Farming) Bill 2024. It is the product of many years of consultation and it comes as a relief to those who have long worked for reform. I commend those stakeholders for their part in shaping the bill before us today. In 2015 I served on the Joint Select Committee on Companion Animal Breeding Practices in NSW, chaired by the then member for Northern Tablelands, Adam Marshall. The committee was appointed amidst ongoing media reports of dogs being kept in horribly exploitative conditions in puppy factories, prosecutions of poor breeding practices and legislative changes in other jurisdictions to better protect companion animals.

It was obvious to me, as it was to the other members of the committee, that gaps in regulation, along with the slow implementation of some of the 2012 recommendations of the New South Wales Companion Animals Taskforce, created an environment in which the abuse of companion animals could occur and certainly could continue. I said in 2015—and I stand by it now—that this was one of the best committee inquiries I have participated in. It resonated strongly with the people of New South Wales, receiving 344 submissions, a petition containing 3,000 signatures, and over 2,200 emails and other correspondence. That strong community concern carried through to two more inquiries in the Legislative Council, in 2022 and 2023, which looked into puppy farming and pounds in New South Wales respectively. Now, after three parliamentary inquiries, community consultation and cross-jurisdictional analysis, we have the bill that is before the House today. The bill will not fix all the problems associated with dog breeding, but it will certainly impose strict regulatory requirements and, hopefully, help shape a culture of responsible breeding in New South Wales.

One of the key provisions of the bill is the introduction of mandatory identification numbers for all businesses and individuals in charge of an adult dog. The value of creating near-universal traceability cannot be understated. It creates accountability in an industry in which abuse by certain breeders has historically gone unchecked. I commend the Government for continuing to make applications for identification numbers free so that there is no cost barrier to compliance with this statutory requirement. Various provisions in new part 2AA that will contribute to a better quality of life for breeding dogs. The bill introduces a lifetime breeding cap, where a dog can have no more than five births or three caesarean births. It mandates minimum staff to dog ratios to ensure that each dog receives proper and sufficient care, food and water. The bill also requires any person breeding a dog to comply with theAnimal Welfare Code of Practice Breeding Dogs and Cats from December 2029.

I cannot speak on the bill and not address the introduction of a cap on female adult dogs that can be kept on a premises. The bill caps that number at 20, although certain breeders could apply for a 10-year exemption to have up to 50 dogs. Ten years is a long transition period for any regulatory scheme. I understand the Government's concern with ensuring that dogs are not euthanised by breeders seeking to comply with the scheme. However, once the exemption is granted, there is currently no statutory requirement for breeders to decrease the number of dogs at their premises until the end of that 10-year period. I trust this matter will be addressed by the Minister. I welcome the Animal Justice Party amendment in the Legislative Council that introduces audits and inspections of the premises of a breeder with an exemption. That is a vital and commonsense safeguard. The bill requires a statutory review approximately five years after the substantial provisions of the bill commence. I hope that this review utilises the information it will have at its disposal, by virtue of the bill's provisions, to consider whether the exemption provisions are fit to ensure the scaling down of large breeding operations.

Finally, the bill establishes various offences for breaches of the new regulatory scheme. On this point, I call on the Government to ensure that those organisations tasked with enforcing the scheme, in particular the RSPCA, are adequately funded. When it comes to enforcing the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, the RSPCA does the lion's share. It has advised that government funding does not cover its current costs for this financial year, let alone any additional cost impost of enforcing the scheme. For the scheme to work, it is imperative that its enforcement is not an afterthought. The concerns of the RSPCA are, of course, not new and came to the fore when we inquired into this issue in 2015.

The bill is a milestone for addressing cruel dog breeding. The gestation period for the bill was long; it has been nine years since I sat before industry, councils and animal advocates in response to reports of abhorrent animal cruelty and heard what might be done to address it. To say the bill is timely is a vast understatement.; however, there is still work to do. We must ensure that the scheme works and that other settings where cruelty can arise, including at pet shops and kitten farms, are not overlooked. All companion animals—dogs, cats, rabbits, birds and others—are members of our families. They deserve to be bred responsibly and treated with dignity. On that basis, I thank all stakeholders who have brought us to this point. I thank the Minister and the Government generally for taking this issue seriously and fulfilling their election commitment. I commend the bill to the House.