Page 3663 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 26 August 2009
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Despite support from the community and all the moral advancements we have made in society, we still have glaring oversights in the way we treat animals, especially when it comes to food production. Chickens in battery cage systems are arguably the most compromised of all farm animals. I have been through this before, but I will mention some of the facts again.
Cage system hens are confined to small wire cages with no room to scratch, flap, walk about freely, let alone to nest or dust-bathe. They cannot stand without pushing against other hens, and they are de-beaked to prevent them from pecking. They exist in artificially lit surroundings to maximise laying and they never see daylight. A study of battery cages found that 31 per cent of battery hens had broken bones at some time before they were killed, and typically they are killed after about a year in these conditions, at which point the hens are considered spent.
This description is not just the perspective of animal activists. It is the perspective of vets, scientists and other animal experts. There is ample scientific literature which examines chickens in cage systems clinically and unemotionally and it concludes that these animals suffer greatly. We are talking about something factual and I encourage members who are unconvinced to look into this issue further.
Those who defend cage egg production, like the Australian Egg Industry Association, argue that cage systems are a positive good that improve chickens’ welfare, or else they say that cage egg production is economic and profitable. The arguments do not outweigh the moral imperatives to end a cruel practice. The same kinds of arguments have been used to defend other morally wrong practices, such as slavery, which is now universally accepted as unjustifiable and immoral. In any case, the claim that cage egg systems improve the welfare of chickens is disingenuous at best.
I have heard representatives of the egg industry try to argue that caged chickens live in luxury five-star accommodation. At the very least, this claim ignores the fact that chickens feel pain, fear, stress and frustration, just as we do. Supporters of cage egg systems sometimes claim that chickens might have endured bad conditions in the old days of caged systems, but they say that modern cage systems have cured these problems. That is also untrue. The conditions in cage systems themselves are inherently inadequate. There is no way that it can be adequate to keep an animal 24 hours a day in a small cube with no daylight, no litter, no perches, no freedoms and being forced to mechanically lay eggs.
I ask members on both sides to seriously consider my legislation from their own consciences, as well as from a party perspective. The Liberal and Labor parties both say that they support animal welfare. Both are committed to prohibiting animal cruelty. My legislation is a way to take decisive action and to act on these commitments. Refusing to take any action to stop cage egg farming is an inherent contradiction.
The government recently decided to ban fireworks, and I believe this is largely because of their detrimental impact on animal welfare. The Greens have supported this decision. Consistency demands that the government will also act to end battery
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