Agriculture Minister
David Carter
2 MAY, 2009
Animal welfare is important to our welfare

Good morning. It is a pleasure to be here as the Minister of Agriculture to officially open the Royal New Zealand Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals' National Conference for 2009.

I always enjoy speaking at events in Canterbury, and in my home city of Christchurch. You'll be interested to know that Canterbury holds an important title that can't be taken away from us - it is home to the oldest SPCA branch in New Zealand.

Which is more than can be said for our Super-14 rugby record at the moment!

I want to thank National President, Peter Mason, for his invitation to be here today, and to Bob Kerridge for his introduction.

On Wednesday I had a very interesting meeting with Major General Peter Davies, Director-General of WSPA.

Mr Davies lost no time in telling me that when it comes to animal welfare, New Zealand is held in high regard internationally. We have a reputation as a country that takes the welfare of our animals very seriously.

But of course this reputation could easily be damaged and, as the Minister responsible for animal welfare, I am very conscious of this.

In fact, in taking on this role and in an early meeting with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, I spelt out my aspirations and listed animal welfare high on my list of priorities.

Today is an opportunity for me to thank you for the work done by your animal welfare inspectorate and to acknowledge the strong relationship it has with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Believe me, it goes a long way in ensuring our continued excellent reputation for animal welfare.

Animal welfare is vitally important to New Zealand - as a nation we are passionate and enthusiastic owners of companion animals.

In fact our pet ownership statistics are among the highest in the world.

Do you want to know how many of us own cats or dogs?

Well, more than half of New Zealand households have at least one cat, and just over 35 percent of households own a dog.

And of course we are also a nation of farmers. Our economy was literally built on the sheep's back.

Continuing to be one of the world's most efficient primary producers will help us get through the current economic downturn.
This leads me now to a topic that has lately been the subject of heated debate and has filled my mailbag to overflow - the export of live sheep for slaughter.

Thanks Bob for keeping my team so busy.

I am very aware of the strong public opinion on this matter and I have personally signed out hundreds of letters on the issue.

So I want to be absolutely clear. The export of live sheep for slaughter is not about to resume. This subject was raised by my political opponents in the Green Party who suggested the trade was to resume in June of this year. That claim was wrong - and I can say hand-on-heart this trade will never resume unless the highest animal welfare standards are met.

I want to quickly give you some background on this issue. New Zealand stopped livestock exports to Saudi Arabia following a horrific incident involving Australian sheep on the Cormo Express in 2003. Since then, Saudi Arabia and New Zealand have had ongoing discussions about opportunities around the export of live sheep for slaughter.

These discussions, initiated by the previous government, will be honoured by this government. But for trade to resume there are two matters to satisfy; one is the transport of stock; and the other is around humane, commercial slaughter on arrival.

These are two very, very high hurdles to meet.

I want to absolutely assure you New Zealand's reputation as a responsible exporter will be maintained.

The fact is the export of livestock for slaughter will remain prohibited unless New Zealand is totally satisfied that the highest animal welfare and animal safety standards are met.

I will not recklessly jeopardise our hard-earned reputation.

Another issue which has been raised with me by the SPCA is the possible importation of dog and cat fur from China.

While there is currently no legislation restricting the importation of cat and dog fur, there is also no evidence that New Zealand imports - or has a desire to import - any products made from cat and dog fur.

Products found to contain cat and dog fur can currently be seized as a prohibited import if they are proven to be mislabelled, and the true origin of the fur is disguised. To date, no imported goods have been found to contain cat or dog fur.

I have met with both the SPCA and the Green Party. I told them that if they have evidence to the contrary, I will act.

I now want to take this opportunity to thank the SPCA for the close and enduring partnership it has with MAF.

The SPCA is one of two organisations outside of MAF mandated to enforce the Animal Welfare Act.

You are our eyes and ears on the ground, in schools and in communities; well-known and respected throughout the country.

Traditionally, the SPCA has primarily dealt with urban and companion animal welfare issues, and MAF with rural and production sector welfare issues.

However, the SPCA has assumed an increased role with rural and farm animals.

The fact that you are on the ground means that you are often the first to hear of an animal welfare incident. In many cases, you are best placed to respond - at least initially.

With last summer's drought followed by floods and a cold winter, too many farm animals in extreme conditions were in desperate need of help from animal welfare inspectors.

Without the assistance and intervention of these inspectors, many animals would have suffered unnecessarily.

I have recently declared drought in the Hawke's Bay and the Gisborne / Wairoa regions. Other parts of New Zealand are also on the edge.

What a drought declaration means is that farmers are offered assistance, particularly by Rural Support Trusts, so they can plan and act early.

Droughts are insidious. They creep up on farmers, and winter droughts can be especially tough. It is hard to explain this to non-farmers.

But the reality is - with climate change, we are going to see more adverse weather events including drought.

This financial year, we provided extra funding for the SPCA to respond to farm animal welfare cases associated with drought.

This funding has enabled the SPCA to establish two Inspectorate Regional Coordinators, one in the North Island and one in the South Island, to prioritise farm animal welfare cases - whether referred by MAF or notified directly by the public to the SPCA.

As everyone knows the current economic climate is far from rosy. But as I said earlier, I have identified this area as a priority and the Budget of 28 May will not let you down.

I believe an additional resource such as this builds on the valuable work of MAF and the SPCA, and enables the two organisations to strengthen their partnership.

A further important partner is addressing animal welfare is the rural vet.

These people are a vital link in animal welfare education and enforcement.

The problem is, rural areas face greater challenges recruiting and retaining vets due to isolation and reduced access to services.

This Government's voluntary bonding scheme for vets, announced in February this year, will go a long way to supporting the retention of graduate vets in understaffed rural areas, by providing incentive payments over five years.

The scheme is a win-win situation.

Let's look at how well animals are looked after in this country.

On the recommendation of the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee, I issue codes of welfare under the Animal Welfare Act. There are currently nine codes in place.

Codes of Welfare for dairy cattle and commercial slaughter have been recommended to me by the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee and are currently being reviewed by MAF, before I decide whether to issue them under the Act. Work is also underway for sheep and beef cattle, dogs, and the transportation of animals within New Zealand.

NAWAC is an extremely valuable resource to me.

I'd like to finish by thanking all of you here today for your ongoing dedication and commitment to the welfare of our nation's animals.

Mahatma Gandhi once said: The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.

How very true.

All of you here today contribute to New Zealand's well-deserved reputation as a civilised and humane nation.

It gives me great pleasure to declare your 2009 National Conference officially open.

Thank you.

ENDS

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