MINISTER for Agriculture Adam Marshall has taken aim at the Animal Justice Party (AJP) for what he describes as recklessly threatening the future of the state’s fishing industry.

Mr Marshall said he would not entertain the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Amendment (Aquatic Animal Recognition) Bill 2021 tabled before Parliament by the animal rights group.

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“The Animal Justice Party has put forward a bill before Parliament which threatens to strip our fishers of their long-standing and perfectly sound rights,” Mr Marshall said.

“I fiercely oppose this bill and so too does the NSW Government.

“Fishers are an integral part of our state’s economy and lifestyle and they know best practice.

“I won’t let dangerous left-wing ideologues with no knowledge of industry or who have never wet a line tell them how to do their business.

“If anyone thinks I would ever sit idly by while the AJP jeopardises the rights and future of any of our critical sectors, including recreational and commercial fishing, but also farming and agricultural practices, then they are plain wrong.

“I couldn’t imagine a single one of our fishers wanting to inflict unnecessary harm on any being, but with NSW home to the strongest suite of animal cruelty penalties, I know these act as a deterrent to any member of the public who considers doing this.”

Mr Marshall said the process to modernise the state’s animal welfare laws was already well underway.

“The NSW Government has received feedback from more than 6,000 submissions of community consultation, and I can assure fishers, their established practices will remain legal under any legislation I bring to parliament,” Mr Marshall said.

Emma Hurst, MP for the Animal Justice Party said of the bill, “I am proud to introduce the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Amendment (Aquatic Animal Recognition) Bill 2021.

“Aquatic animals are some of the most overlooked and mistreated animals in our society.

“Trillions of fish and shellfish are killed globally each year for food, more than any other animal.

“So little regard is given to those animals and their suffering that we do not even know exactly how many are killed.

“We can only estimate because the industry measures their deaths in tonnes, not as individual lives lost. Some aquatic animals are so overlooked that in New South Wales our animal protection legislation does not even recognise many of them as being animals.

“The consequence is that those aquatic animals are not afforded the most basic, fundamental protections against animal cruelty.

“This bill will change that.

“The bill will ensure that cephalopods such as octopuses, squid and cuttlefish, and crustaceans such as lobsters, crabs and prawns are recognised in the definition of ‘animal’ in the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1979, also known as POCTAA.

“This will have the flow-on effect of ensuring that those animals are protected by the provisions of POCTAA, which provides that an individual must not be cruel or neglectful towards an animal.”

For more information on the Animal Welfare Review, visit the NSW Department of Primary Industries website.