Australian Greens Senator and Animal Welfare Spokesperson, Dr Mehreen Faruqi, has described Senator Bridget Mckenzie’s appointment as Agriculture Minister as a disaster for animal welfare.

Senator Faruqi has been a driving force in the fight against live exports and for the protection of animals.

Senator Faruqi said:

“We thought that the welfare of animals was already at an all time low under the Liberals and Nationals, but with Senator Mckenzie, I am worried it will get much worse.

Australian Greens Senator for New South Wales and Animal Welfare Spokesperson, Dr Mehreen Faruqi, has today launched the Greens Plan for national animal cruelty laws.The Greens have obtained advice from the Parliamentary Library that the Commonwealth has the constitutional power to enact laws in a large number of areas.

Australian Greens Senator for NSW and Spokesperson for Animal Welfare, Dr Mehreen Faruqi, has welcomed a ban on animal testing for cosmetics. A full ban is conditional on the Government enacting further measures outside Parliament, and Senator Faruqi has vowed to keep the pressure on the Government. The Greens have been at the forefront of pushing for a ban on cruel cosmetics for years, including introducing the first bill to ban animal tested cosmetics in 2014.

Senator Faruqi said:

'The department has failed as a regulator.' This is the beginning of the draft report provided to the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources on 17 December 2018. Ten days later, when the final version was released by the minister, those words had been removed. Let's remember that the independent Review of the Regulatory Capability and Culture of the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources in the Regulation of Live Animal Exports, known as the Moss review, was set up in response to the horrific abuse we saw on five separate voyages of the Awassi Express.

Senator FARUQI (New South Wales) (14:15): My question is to Senator Canavan, representing the Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources. The Greens forced the government to release various draft versions of the Moss review into the regulation of live export by the department of agriculture.

Australian Greens Senator for NSW and Spokesperson for Animal Welfare, Dr Mehreen Faruqi, has revealed documents that show the Department of Agriculture had a role in editing and reviewing the review of its own culture. Senator Faruqi obtained the documents through an Order for Production of Documents into all draft versions of the “Review of the Regulatory Capability and Culture of the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources in the Regulation of Live Animal Exports”, known as the Moss Review.

Australian Greens Senator for NSW and Spokesperson for Animal Welfare, Dr Mehreen Faruqi, has successfully established a Senate inquiry into a national horse traceability register. As it stands, very little is known about the fate of the tens of thousands of horses bred each year.

The Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee will run the inquiry and submissions will open soon.

The terms of reference for the inquiry are:

Australian Greens Senator for NSW and Spokesperson for Animal Welfare, Dr Mehreen Faruqi, has called the reopening of the Lismore racing track a farce. Greyhound Racing NSW closed the Lismore track ‘indefinitely’ on 17 January “as a result of unacceptably high levels of major greyhound injuries and fatalities over the past 12 months.

Australian Greens Animal Welfare Spokesperson, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, has launched a campaign for an inquiry into a National Horse Traceability Scheme. A register would ensure all horses in Australia, including racing horses, would have lifetime tracking.

The national register would benefit biosecurity, including for the prevention and management of Emergency Animal Diseases such as equine influenza and African Horse Sickness; improve safety for riders; tackle backyard breeding; and combat rural crime.

Senator Faruqi said:

Motion

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

         (i) the Yat Yuen Greyhound racing track at Macau, known as the Canidrome, has been described by Grey2k as a "death camp for dogs" where tens of thousands of greyhounds have been killed over the last 50 years,

         (ii) in 2013, Greyhounds Australasia blacklisted Macau on animal welfare grounds and stopped issuing 'greyhound passports',