30581 (2023). Steve Abel to the Associate Minister of Agriculture

30581 (2023). Steve Abel to the Associate Minister of Agriculture: How many, if any, breaches of the dairy cattle welfare code were recorded in the years 2020-2023; listed by year?

Hon Andrew Hoggard: I am advised that Codes of Welfare (codes) are issued under the Animal Welfare Act 1999 (the Act) to establish minimum standards and recommended best practices for the care and management of particular species. Breaches of the Act (and regulations issued under the Act) are enforceable and if a person is charged with an offence under the Act or regulations, evidence of their failure to meet a relevant minimum standard in a code may be used to support the prosecution. I refer the member to the attached table of MPI recorded breaches referring to dairy cattle of the Animal Welfare Act 1999 and Animal Welfare (Care and Procedures) Regulations 2018, between 2020-2023. The number of investigators has increased over the same time-period. In addition, since the introduction of infringement notices (as part of the introduction of the regulations), cases of low-level offending that were previously provided advice and education have been served infringement notices. These changes have likely had a deterrent effect for low to mid-level offending, causing the number of breaches of the Act and regulations to decrease slowly over time.