Draft welfare standards still open for comment

There’s just two weeks remaining for the community and interested parties to have their say on the draft Australian Animal Welfare Standards and Guidelines for Poultry and the associated Regulation Impact Statement (RIS). The draft standards from Animal Health Australia, move from the existing voluntary system to national regulation. But the regulation is inadequate, a better option would be to legislate the Model Code.The document has been open for public consultation since Monday 27 November 2017 and will close for comment at 5pm Monday 26 February 2018. Kathleen Plowman, Animal Health Australia (AHA) CEO, encourages all interested parties to submit their views on the draft document and the associated RIS, which identifies the key costs and benefits of the draft standards and provides alternative options.Submissions should be emailed to publicconspoultry@animalhealthaustralia.com.au We will be submitting something like this:"In the RIS , the policy objective of the action is identified as: 'To minimise risks to poultry welfare; and to reduce both industry uncertainty and excess regulatory burden in a way that is practical for implementation and industry compliance. The main criterion for evaluating the proposed standards and the feasible alternatives is net benefit for the community. The most effective way to acheive this objective is to legislate the existing Model Code of Practice for the Welfare of Animals (Domestic Poultry) as a mandatory standard rather a voluntary guideline. This action would achieve the claimed objectives of the new welfare regulations. As the code is widely accepted by the industry there will be no additional cost to industry.