A hen peers through the bars of a battery cage.

Have your say: final chance to influence SA’s new animal welfare legislation.

The proposed Animal Welfare Bill has significant flaws that expose animals to cruelty. Using this guide, please complete the government survey before May 26, 2024.

Animals Australia

Animals Australia team

Last updated May 15, 2024

In the final stages of public consultation for what will be South Australia’s new Animal Welfare Act, your voice can play a pivotal role. We’ve put together this simple guide to help you speak up for animals.

1000 people submitted feedback in March last year when the review process of the Animal Welfare Act began – and those who spoke up for animals likely helped shape some of the commendable inclusions that are in the current draft Bill.

Despite the proposed improvements, the draft Bill unfortunately still has considerable shortcomings that urgently need to be addressed. Sweeping exemptions leave the animals who suffer in the largest numbers – farmed animals – exposed to cruelty, be it extreme confinement or painful procedures without pain relief. Greyhounds used for gambling profits, ducks shot for ‘fun’, and fish and decapod crustaceans (like lobsters and crayfish) in the fishing and aquaculture industries are also left vulnerable to suffering.

These animals need your help once again to advocate for more comprehensive and compassionate legislation.

HEAD STRAIGHT TO THE SURVEY

How to take the survey

  1. We’ve put together our own simple survey guide below to help you frame your responses.
  2. Complete the survey on the YourSAy website. Depending on the level of detail you’d like to provide in your responses, it will take approximately 15-40 minutes to complete.

The SA Government has a frequently asked question section and their Explanatory Guide here.

If you have any questions about completing the survey, contact our friendly team on 1800 888 584 and we will do our best to assist you.

TAKE THE SURVEY

Guidance on the survey questions

Please read each question carefully and answer in your own words. Our views may not express yours so please use our resource as a guide and ensure your answers reflect your personal view.

Questions 1 – 5: Tell us about you

These questions relate to your personal information – suburb, age, areas of interest etc.

Note: Question 4 of the survey asks “Do you have a professional involvement with animals?”:
  • If you select ‘no’, please continue on with the guide below as is.
  • If ‘yes’ is selected, an additional question pops up (‘In what area do you have a professional involvement with animals?’). You can still follow along with the guide below, just note the numbers of the questions won’t exactly match up – the wording of the questions remains the same so you can easily follow along.

Part 1 – Preliminary

Find more information in the explanatory guide and page 4 of the draft Bill.

Strongly disagree

Agree

Agree 

You may wish to comment on the following (please do so in your own words):

Decapod crustaceans, including lobsters, crabs, and crayfish, are sentient beings and must be included under the definition of ‘animal’.

All cephalopods (including octopus, squid, cuttlefish and nautilus) are sentient beings and must be included under the definition of ‘animal’ beyond where they are being supplied, kept or used for scientific purposes.

Part 2 – Animal welfare offences

Find more information in the explanatory guideand page 5 of the draft Bill.  

Disagree

Disagree

Strongly agree

Agree

Strongly disagree

You may wish to comment on the following (please do so in your own words):

On duty of care (question 10)
Duty of care must apply not only to “the owner” but to any person in charge, consistent with other jurisdictions and public expectations e.g., a pet day care operator, a pet sitter, a kennel operator, they are not the owners of those animal but they still have a duty of care because they are ‘a person in charge’ . This provision must encompass the Five Domains of animal welfare and be updated to ensure explicit care requirements.

On ill treatment of animals (question 11) 

Strict penalties for animal cruelty are important but to give these effect, these penalties must be applied to their full extent. This does not happen currently.

On prohibited activities or items (question 12)
South Australia should prohibit the following activities under the act: 

  • Greyhound racing 
    There is overwhelming and longstanding evidence of animal cruelty in greyhound racing.   
  • Recreational duck shooting
    There is overwhelming and longstanding evidence of animal cruelty in recreational duck shooting and there is no possible justification for the continued suffering of animals purely for a select few individuals to engage in killing animals ‘as a hobby’  
  • Extreme confinement of farmed animals
    There is no possible justification for the continued extreme confinement of animals in these systems when commercially viable alternatives have long been available.  
  • Painful invasive procedures are routinely carried out on farm animals
    There is sufficient evidence indicating that these painful invasive procedures (e.g. tail docking & mulesing of lambs, tail docking and teeth clipping of piglets) cannot be justified, should be prohibited outright.
  • Inhumane methods of killing farm animals must be prohibited
    These include bludgeoning of live piglets against hard surfaces, shredding of live male chicks in macerators, and CO2 gassing of pigs.

I support the South Australian Government’s decision to ban jumps racing but provisions (2) (c) and (d) should be removed. Expressly condoning the publishing and advertising of jumps racing, an activity which has been prohibited on animal welfare grounds, runs contrary to the objects of this Act.

Special requirements for greyhound racing entities (question 13) 

Mandatory reporting requirements for the greyhound racing industry is a step towards greater transparency, however the government should take the step to include greyhound racing as a prohibited activity and ban it in the state. 

Exemption for fishing activities (question 14) 

By exempting aquaculture and fishing activities, South Australia is exposing millions of animals to unacceptable fear, pain, and distress, contrary to the objects of this Act. Fishing causes multiple levels of animal suffering including fear, fatigue, exhaustion, decompression and trauma from changes in pressure, temperature shock, distress from changes in water balance in the body, physical trauma and injury, pain, and prolonged inhumane death.

You are over a third of the way through the survey questions! Thank you.

Part 3 – Advisory committees etc

Find more information in the explanatory guide and page 11 of the draft Bill.

Disagree

You may wish to comment on the following (please do so in your own words):

Experts on ethics and animal behaviour should be added to the skills-based criteria of the South Australian Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (AWAC). AWAC should include mandatory appointment of representatives with experience, skills and qualifications in animal welfare. Industry representation on AWAC should be minimal to reduce inappropriate conflicts of interest. 

Part 4 – Licences, permits and registered activities

Find more information in the explanatory guide and page 13 of the draft Bill.  

Agree

Strongly agree

Strongly agree

Agree

Agree

You may wish to comment on the following (please do so in your own words):

Permits (question 20) 

While it is appropriate for the Bill to include the broad power to create and issue permits, this has no benefit to animal welfare when there are no activities except rodeo listed as requiring permits.

Permits should not be allocated to activities that cause suffering to animals. The current Act has a provision for rodeo permits (s34). South Australia should cease issuing permits for rodeos and make these prohibited activities on animal welfare grounds.

All snares and specific types of inhumane traps (e.g., glue traps) used under commercial permits should be prohibited as they have been in Victoria, as well as backyard netting (e.g., wide aperture mesh netting) that entangles and kills wildlife.

Part 5 – Enforcement

Find more information in the explanatory guide and page 21 of the draft Bill. 

Disagree

Disagree

Strongly agree

Strongly agree

Agree

Agree

Strongly agree

Strongly agree

You may wish to comment on the following (please do so in your own words):

 

Updated powers for authorised officers (question 25)

While the Bill should specify that a warrant is needed to enter a structure or a building, it should specify that a warrant is not needed to enter a backyard or paddock to provide the ability for authorised officers to visually assess a situation.

Routine inspections (question 25) 

Routine compliance inspections are less effective if authorised officers must give 24 hours notice of the proposed inspection as this allows for animals to be moved and evidence to be removed. Authorised officers should have the powers to conduct unannounced inspections.

 

Court orders on finding of guilt (question 31)

Charities are often left to cover the substantial costs of caring for animals harmed in animal cruelty cases, and it would be appropriate for the perpetrator to bear these costs. This should also include provisions for the court to issue a lifetime ban on being a person in charge of animals. 

Part 6 – Reviews

Find more information in the explanatory guide and page 33 of the draft Bill.

Agree

You may wish to comment on the following (please do so in your own words):

Greater transparency is required around the decisions of animal ethics committees so that external experts and the broader community can request a review if and when they are deemed necessary.

Less than 10 questions to go!

Part 7 – Animal Welfare Fund

Find more information in the explanatory guide and page 34 of the draft Bill.

Agree

You may wish to comment on the following (please do so in your own words):

This addition of an animal welfare fund is a positive step, but further detail and criteria are needed to ensure the fund is administered appropriately and used to support the greatest areas of need, and only areas that protect animals from suffering, not industries or activities that contribute to it. There should be full and accessible transparency around recipients of this fund.  

Part 8 – Miscellaneous

Find more information in the explanatory guide and page 35 of the draft Bill.

Strongly agree

Strongly disagree

You may wish to comment on the following (please do so in your own words):

Ministerial exemptions (question 38)

Ministerial exemptions applied to the Bill could render the entire Act defunct. This is contrary to the objects of the Act and should be removed entirely. Ministerial exemption powers could expose many animals to harm and remove their protections under law.  

Schedule 1

Find more information in the explanatory guide and page 41 of the draft Bill.

Strongly agree

You may wish to add your own comment here if you’d like to, or, you can leave this blank.

Survey

You may wish to comment on the following (please do so in your own words):

The draft Bill, as it currently stands, won’t protect millions of animals in our state. The animals impacted by exemptions, including farmed animals, greyhounds in the racing industry, ducks shot for recreation, fish, and invertebrate decapod crustaceans, are all sentient and capable of experiencing suffering – therefore, all should be properly protected.

At this step, you are welcome to provide your email address to receive updates directly from the Department.

Then you are ready to hit ‘Submit’!

Ready? Head to the survey…

What next?

Once you’ve completed the survey, encourage others in your community to participate too. The more voices speaking up for animal welfare, the stronger the collective voice for meaningful reform.

Survey responses from the community will be analysed and summarised and can influence changes to the Bill before it is tabled in Parliament, debated, and becomes law.


Thank you for being a powerful voice for all animals

Updating the Animal Welfare Act is a crucial step towards aligning our laws with current community values and expectations for how animals should be treated. Thank you for taking the time to complete the government survey on behalf of animals.

Ultimately, the exemptions in the Bill are made for industries that use animals for profit – for food, ‘entertainment’, or other products – despite the fact that all animals think, feel, and can suffer. So the most powerful way to spare animals from the cruelty they are subjected to within these industries, is to choose not to support them at all.

If you’d like to learn more about living kindly, order your free copy of our compassionate living guide today.