Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
License needed for work use Register

Gordon Campbell | Parliament TV | Parliament Today | News Video | Crime | Employers | Housing | Immigration | Legal | Local Govt. | Maori | Welfare | Unions | Youth | Search

 

Minister’s ‘Ignorance’ Leads to Continued Hen Suffering

Minister’s ‘Ignorance’ Leads to Continued Hen Suffering

Reports that the Minister of Agriculture David Carter was ‘unaware’ that hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars have been spent assisting the egg industry to move from one cruel cage system to another are hard to credit, say animal advocates.

The Minister came under fire at question time in Parliament yesterday after denying he knew that $400,000 of taxpayer funds has gone towards trialling a proposed new cage system for layer hens, the colony cage system. The Minister said he was not aware of any funding from the Sustainable Farming Fund going towards the testing of the new colony cage system, and added that he thought a move to free range production would mean the cost of egg production in this country would dramatically increase.

SAFE campaign director Eliot Pryor says that despite the Minister’s claims that there is a need to be ‘objective’, his statements indicate a predetermined agenda. “We believe that he is preparing to lead a move to introduce the colony cage system,” says Mr Pryor.

Despite the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC) conducting a financial analysis of a shift to the new colony cage system as part of the current review of the Layer Hen Code of Welfare, there has been no similar analysis of a move to non-cage systems.

“To suggest he is outside this process is just not credible. There is huge public support for a move away from cage farming and the only way the Minister can avoid acknowledging this seems to be through distancing himself from a biased process,” Mr Pryor stated. “SAFE believes that the NAWAC review has been set up to fail caged hens,” he added.

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading

Are you getting our free newsletter?

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.

“Taxpayer funding is being channelled towards vested industry interests, to set up an intensive cage system that is already banned in some countries around the world,” says Mr Pryor. International animal welfare groups have declared that the colony cage system “fails to properly meet the hens' physical and behavioural needs”.

The one colony cage system currently in use in New Zealand is a commercial ‘trial’ that is being conducted under conditions of extreme secrecy. Media have been refused access, making it one of the most secretive facilities in the country.

“Non-cage systems are already in place in New Zealand farming so we must ask why funding is going to another cruel system that is not yet established in the country,” points out Mr Pryor. “NAWAC has refused to conduct financial analysis into a move to non-cage systems. To introduce colony cage systems is, in any case, going to require the industry to make massive capital investment over decades that will inevitably flow on to consumers.”

“The Minister needs to explain how the review process can be claimed to be ‘objective’ when funding is being given to one cage system, and fails to seriously analyse a move to non-cage systems” says Mr Pryor.

ENDS

© Scoop Media

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading
 
 
 
Parliament Headlines | Politics Headlines | Regional Headlines

Gordon Campbell: On How Climate Change Threatens Cricket‘s Future

Well that didn’t last long, did it? Mere days after taking on what he called the “awesome responsibility” of being Prime Minister, Christopher Luxon has started blaming everyone else and complaining that he's inherited “economic vandalism on an unprecedented scale” - which is how most of us would describe his own coalition agreements, 100-Day Plan, and backdated $3 billion handout to landlords... More


 
 
Public Housing Futures: Christmas Comes Early For Landlords

New CTU analysis of the National & ACT coalition agreement has shown the cost of returning interest deductibility to landlords is an extra $900M on top of National’s original proposal. This is because it is going to be implemented earlier and faster, including retrospective rebates from April 2023. More


Green Party: Petition To Save Oil & Gas Ban

“The new Government’s plan to expand oil and gas exploration is as dangerous as it is unscientific. Whatever you think about the new government, there is simply no mandate to trash the climate. We need to come together to stop them,” says James Shaw. More

PSA: MFAT Must Reverse Decision To Remove Te Reo

MFAT's decision to remove te reo from correspondence before new Ministers are sworn in risks undermining the important progress the public sector has made in honouring te Tiriti. "We are very disappointed in what is a backward decision - it simply seems to be a Ministry bowing to the racist rhetoric we heard on the election campaign trail," says Marcia Puru. More

 
 
 
 
 
 

LATEST HEADLINES

  • PARLIAMENT
  • POLITICS
  • REGIONAL
 
 

InfoPages News Channels


 
 
 
 

Join Our Free Newsletter

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.