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Speaker 1: What's in pet food? I guess we'll never know. I

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Speaker 1: don't ever intend tasting it, but it can be quite

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Speaker 1: harmful to animals. Do you love pets that you feed

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Speaker 1: it too? And there have been reports, including one yesterday

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Speaker 1: in the paper of a woman who had some prize

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Speaker 1: ferrets of all things, and tragically they died after she

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Speaker 1: bought what was called a preservative free pet food but

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Speaker 1: had some form of lead in it and poison the ferrets,

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Speaker 1: which is terrible when you think you're buying something that

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Speaker 1: is labeled as quite good for the animals you want

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Speaker 1: to feed it to. So there is a proposal legislation

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Speaker 1: put up by Independent MP Frank Pangelo to introduce what

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Speaker 1: will be the toughest pet food laws in the country

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Speaker 1: Australia first legislation. Frank, good morning, Good morning, Matt.

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Speaker 2: You're good to be on your program. And look, I

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Speaker 2: don't know, have you got a pick.

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Speaker 1: Not at the moment, had pets, but not right now.

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Speaker 2: Oh, you'd be surprised. So that there are more pets

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Speaker 2: than people in Australia really and yeah, there's over twenty

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Speaker 2: eight million pets in Australia and sixty nine percent of

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Speaker 2: Australians own a pet and you know that part of

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Speaker 2: the family, and a lot of money you spend on them,

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Speaker 2: from healthcare and grooming to food, and it's a huge industry,

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Speaker 2: six billion dollars just in pet food alone, and Australians

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Speaker 2: spend thirty three billion dollars on their pets in twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty two. But and you know what you're feeding your

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Speaker 2: pet is safe and good for them. What's in it?

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Speaker 2: Where does it come from? Well, you don't because the

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Speaker 2: pet food industry is unregulated in Australia, unlike many other countries.

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Speaker 2: Now we expect and demand food for human consumption to

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Speaker 2: be regulated and safe to eat. Well, I'm saying the

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Speaker 2: same needs to apply to our beloved pets to enable

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Speaker 2: them to live long and happy lives, not be stricken

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Speaker 2: with disease from the foods they consume. Now, you mentioned

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Speaker 2: the ferrets, Yestermy, it's not just the ferrets. Now, there

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Speaker 2: was an incident in Queensland a few years ago where

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Speaker 2: police canine dogs suffered serious disease as a result of

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Speaker 2: what they ate. There was an incident with a brand

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Speaker 2: of pet food in Western Australia. You know, they called

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Speaker 2: it megasophixus was the disease they killed off over one

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Speaker 2: hundred animals over there, and simply because there were hidden

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Speaker 2: or unknown additives in these pet foods that were not

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Speaker 2: disclosed on the label. And I'm saying, look, produce these

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Speaker 2: pet foods, but you better disclose what's in them and

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Speaker 2: let people.

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Speaker 1: Know that current laws have that. Now. I mean, I

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Speaker 1: know we have food labeling laws in this country, but

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Speaker 1: is that just the human consumption?

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Speaker 2: Yes, it is, absolutely it is. And look, there are

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Speaker 2: many large manufacturers that do go to the trouble to

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Speaker 2: put what's in their pet food on their labels. But again,

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Speaker 2: some of it it's so small you hardly even can

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Speaker 2: see it. There's stuff that's hidden. And also it's self regulated.

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Speaker 2: You know, they don't have to do it. And it's

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Speaker 2: important that people know exactly what they want. And look,

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Speaker 2: the reason that I looked into this a few years well,

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Speaker 2: it was a couple of years ago, was when I

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Speaker 2: was approached by a couple who bought a pet food

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Speaker 2: manufacturing business, only to learn that the previous owner misled

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Speaker 2: them about the production standards in the food that had

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Speaker 2: been made. And this is the same type of pet

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Speaker 2: food that Sammy Johnston bead her beloved ferrets. Now these

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Speaker 2: were breeding therets and were quite valuable to her, but

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Speaker 2: they contained lead and that wasn't disclosed or where they

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Speaker 2: came from. So this ledgislation is based on the Australian

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Speaker 2: standard for manufacturing and marketing of pet food and will

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Speaker 2: focus on marketing and labeling and there'll be stiff penalties

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Speaker 2: of life. Constants aren't fully disclosed.

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Speaker 1: So who has a right to know who'll be monitoring it,

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Speaker 1: who'll be checking the pet food and making sure it's

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Speaker 1: up to standard.

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Speaker 2: Okay, So if the legislation goes through, I expect it

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Speaker 2: would be enforced by authorized officers from Persia and they'll

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Speaker 2: be empowered to enter premises and make inspections.

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Speaker 1: If it's produced into state or over seas though.

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Speaker 2: Well, if it's produced even if it's on sale here

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Speaker 2: right you can buy it off the shelves. The government

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Speaker 2: would certainly have a right to be able to ensure

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Speaker 2: that proper labeling is there that complies us out of

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Speaker 2: Australian laws. You look, I'm sure. Look, I'm sure the

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Speaker 2: large manufacturers would abide by it. They realize how important

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Speaker 2: it is that you have healthy animals out there and

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Speaker 2: consuming good, healthy food.

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Speaker 1: How big a problem do you reckon it is? Frank,

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Speaker 1: I mean, no animals should die under these circumstances or

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Speaker 1: be poisoned. You go through an illness as a result

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Speaker 1: of this, But is it a big problem?

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Speaker 2: Yes, it is. You'd be shocked to know how much

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Speaker 2: people will spend on their pets, and on top of that,

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Speaker 2: when their pets get ill, how much it costs them

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Speaker 2: to take them to the vet. They'll spend thousands upon

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Speaker 2: thousands of dollars to make sure that they get the

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Speaker 2: best veterinary treatment. But think about the animals that you

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Speaker 2: can buy today. There are a lot of pedigree animals

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Speaker 2: out there that will cost families somewhere between six seven,

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Speaker 2: eight nine thousand dollars, and of course they treat them

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Speaker 2: like a member of the family, and you do not

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Speaker 2: want them to get ill. It's easy to sort of

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Speaker 2: someone who say, oh, well, just give him the slops

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Speaker 2: or this or whatever. If you're going to buy something

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Speaker 2: in a supermarket, you're going to buy something in a

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Speaker 2: pet food store, or your animal, you want to make

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Speaker 2: sure that that's going to be good for them and

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Speaker 2: that what is in that product is going to be

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Speaker 2: good for them and safe for them, and that you've

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Speaker 2: made disclosure that you know where the product is coming from.

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Speaker 2: And that's another thing, the place of origin. Now a

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Speaker 2: constituent has come and seen me about product he brought

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Speaker 2: off the shelf and a supermarket that made his animals

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Speaker 2: extremely sick, and he's now complaining to the manufacturer and

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Speaker 2: the supermarket's concerned. Now, if net food is found to

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Speaker 2: be faulty or not suitable, there will be provisions also

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Speaker 2: that they be recalled, that there be a recall of these. Now,

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Speaker 2: remember there was a Senate inquiring twenty eighteen mat That's

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Speaker 2: how seriously it was taken then, and they made a

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Speaker 2: number of recommendations, including adopting a standard or Pittsford And

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Speaker 2: this is what I'm saying, have a standard and abide

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Speaker 2: by it, all.

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Speaker 1: Right, Frank Pangelo, thank you for your time this morning.

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Speaker 1: No worries, Matcy, thank you Upper House Independent