The Animal Law and Welfare Committee at the LIV regularly engages with government and other stakeholder bodies to contribute to law reform, aiming to protect the welfare of animals. Recently, the Committee has been in consultation with Agriculture Victoria’s body ‘Animal Welfare Victoria’ and is currently drafting a submission to the government’s Inquiry concerning a new Animal Welfare Act.

The Animal Law and Welfare Committee sits within the LIV’s Administrative Law and Human Rights Section and comprises of practitioners interested in animal law and welfare issues, working in and outside the area. Focussing on the legal aspects of animal protection and reform, the Committee comprises of members from other Victorian and national animal welfare and legal groups, and addresses a wide variety of topical and ongoing animal welfare issues.

The Animal Law and Welfare Committee organises CPD events through the LIV, discusses and draws comment on animal law issues and has recently been involved in ongoing consultation with Agriculture Victoria on the landscape of animal welfare legislation in the state.

Throughout 2020, Committee members met with the Agriculture Victoria’s branch ‘Animal Welfare Victoria’ on multiple occasions to discuss and offer feedback on proposed approaches for new animal welfare legislation. In Committee meetings, members discussed their priorities for legislative reform and identified issues under the current Animal Welfare framework of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1986 (Vic) (‘POCTA Act’). Identified issues and priorities were later brought to Animal Welfare Victoria through consultations, where the members’ feedback and concerns could be addressed directly by Government in the context of planning new legislation.

Following the Committee’s initial consultations with Animal Welfare Victoria, the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions has since released a Directions Paper, seeking feedback on proposals for a new animal welfare act to replace the POCTA Act. The Animal Law and Welfare Committee is currently engaged in drafting a submission to the ‘A new animal welfare Act for Victoria’ inquiry, providing another opportunity for feedback on the proposed mechanism for future animal welfare regulation. Through discussions in Committee meetings, members will draft feedback on the 12 high-level proposals in the Directions Paper, benefitting from the knowledge of previous consultations with government. Following this initial inquiry, the Animal Law and Welfare Committee looks forward to ongoing consultation with Agriculture Victoria as they progress through the stages of modernising Victoria’s core animal welfare legislative framework, as outlined in the directions paper.

If you would like to learn more, or wish to apply to join to the LIV’s Animal Law and Welfare Committee or another Committee under the Administrative Law and Human Rights Section, please email alhr@liv.asn.au. More information about the Committees in the Administrative Law and Human Rights Section is available on the LIV website.