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Speaker 1: Joining me in the studio right now is the chairman

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Speaker 1: of the RSPCA, Danny Moore. Good morning to you.

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Speaker 2: Danny, Good morning Katie. Thanks for having us.

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Speaker 1: It's great to have you on the show now. Danny.

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Speaker 1: I know that the RSPCA at the moment is calling

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Speaker 1: on the Northern Territory government to finally enact the Animal

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Speaker 1: Protection Act. It's almost three years after it was passed

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Speaker 1: by the government. Talk us through sort of you know

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Speaker 1: how this went through parliament to begin with, So it

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Speaker 1: has actually pas used, hasn't it.

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Speaker 2: That's correct, Katie. This actually is a process that kicked

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Speaker 2: off after the two thousand and eight Mattarankor incident, which

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Speaker 2: was one of the worst cases and the neglects in Australia.

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Speaker 2: Four hundred cattle died. There was an ombudsman review and

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Speaker 2: parliamentary reviews and we got involved from about twenty thirteen,

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Speaker 2: I think in this legislation YEP, through to twenty eighteen

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Speaker 2: where this went before a committee and we participated in

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Speaker 2: that process along with industry and other organizations through to

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Speaker 2: this passing on the thirtieth of October twenty eighteen, so

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Speaker 2: almost three years ago.

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Speaker 1: So it's gone through the whole process, everything is had

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Speaker 1: happened as it should have. I believe ken Vows was

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Speaker 1: the minister at the time and said that it would

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Speaker 1: be implemented within a six month period.

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Speaker 2: Was that right, Yeah, that's right. When it first passed Parliament,

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Speaker 2: it was said the associated regulations that sit under this

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Speaker 2: would take six months to develop and they would be

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Speaker 2: in as say, within six months. And that's moved four

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Speaker 2: times now when we've had various commitments that have not

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Speaker 2: been met, and right now we actually don't know when

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Speaker 2: it's going to be enacted and where. All this time

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Speaker 2: just means the benefits of the act animals could be

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Speaker 2: suffering as a result.

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Speaker 1: Danny, what are some of the you know, the real

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Speaker 1: lynch pins or some of the initiatives in this act

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Speaker 1: that realistically people may be concerned about that and also

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Speaker 1: that the RSPCA wants implemented sooner rather than later.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. See, this act replaces an act that is twenty

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Speaker 2: two years old now, so it really contemporizes the legislation

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Speaker 2: and brings us somewhat in line to other jurisdictions. The

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Speaker 2: benefits of the act from an animal perspective, and you know,

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Speaker 2: we're an animal advocacy organization where they're to talk for

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Speaker 2: the animals. And this really increases penalties for cruelty, so

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Speaker 2: imprisonment terms could rise from two to five years. Under

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Speaker 2: this act, financial penalties from thirty thousand up to seventy

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Speaker 2: seven thousand. It gives more powers for the inspectors within

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Speaker 2: the Animal welfare branch of the Anti government to provide

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Speaker 2: directions to people to give better care and welfare of animals.

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Speaker 2: It also prescribes codes and standards for industry which they

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Speaker 2: are involved in developing, and gives a broader definition of

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Speaker 2: animals including bony fish, sharks, rays, etc.

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Speaker 1: Now I remember at the time when this first passed.

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Speaker 1: I can't remember exactly what the front page of the

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Speaker 1: paper was, but I remember that it included fish on there,

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Speaker 1: Like why do fish need to be included in this

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Speaker 1: change and is it going to impact the way that

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Speaker 1: people go out and do their fishing.

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Speaker 2: Yep, So whider fish need to be involved. So the

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Speaker 2: science says fish are sentient beans and like any other

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Speaker 2: animal appet you know, dog or cat, they feel pain,

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Speaker 2: suffering and harms. So that that's why they've been included.

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Speaker 2: And initially in the act they weren't included, and through

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Speaker 2: the process the government agreed that they can be included

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Speaker 2: with that hindering industry and changed the Act before it

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Speaker 2: went before Parliament in terms of the impacts. So there

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Speaker 2: was some concern around the impacts to amateur fishermen and

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Speaker 2: so forth, but we believe that the act doesn't affect that,

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Speaker 2: and as part of the process and rolled out at

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Speaker 2: the time, the government provided some funding to develop the

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Speaker 2: codes which provide the defense under the Act should that

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Speaker 2: become an issue for an amateur fision.

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Speaker 1: So is it more like fish that are being kept

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Speaker 1: in tanks to eat or what is that?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so it's about care and protection. So, you know,

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Speaker 2: ensuring the animal or the animal to fish in this case,

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Speaker 2: you know, has adequate food, appropriate cleanliness of water, et cetera.

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Speaker 2: You know, would be some of the measures down to

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Speaker 2: the method around the killing of the animals in essence

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Speaker 2: when it's caught, so and there's ways around doing that

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Speaker 2: more ethically and to relieve suffering and pain and harmer

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Speaker 2: the animal when that's done.

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Speaker 1: Now, when we talk about how these changes will impact

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Speaker 1: pit owners, I'm assuming that if you are somebody who

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Speaker 1: responsibly looks after your pit, then it's probably not going

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Speaker 1: to have a huge impact exactly right.

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Speaker 2: So if you are someone that appropriately looks after your animal,

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Speaker 2: is not cruel to it, etc. This will have no

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Speaker 2: impact on your day to day life. But what this

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Speaker 2: does is protects the animals from those that don't look

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Speaker 2: after the animals that are cruel to animals and gives

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Speaker 2: them better protection and also harsher penalties for those that

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Speaker 2: flaw this.

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Speaker 1: What about those who maybe have farms or pastoralers or

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Speaker 1: horse owners, is you know, are there major changes as

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Speaker 1: part of this act that will impact them.

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Speaker 2: No, as I say, it contemporizes the act, and most

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Speaker 2: of the industry is probably beyond where the current act

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Speaker 2: is aren't at right now. And in the process, in fact,

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Speaker 2: the anti Cattlemen's associating Cattlemen's Association SORRY also supported the

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Speaker 2: parson of the Act and the codes and standards that

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Speaker 2: see under that you industry and the animal welfare sector

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Speaker 2: like us participate in those reviews that define what they

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Speaker 2: do and you know, most are doing the right thing

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Speaker 2: and have nothing to be worried about it.

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Speaker 1: And so in reality, I mean all of these like

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Speaker 1: there has been those committee stages, this has obviously passed

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Speaker 1: through Parliament. It's something that happened back in twenty eighteen.

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Speaker 1: So really what the RSPCA is asking for here is

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Speaker 1: for that Act to actually just be implemented.

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Speaker 2: That's right. We just want the Act to be implemented,

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Speaker 2: become the law so it does the job it's supposed

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Speaker 2: to do, which is protect the animals. You know, we

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Speaker 2: recognize there's a lot of complexity in this, but there's

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Speaker 2: been enough time now to do that, and we're asking

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Speaker 2: for the Minister to direct the public Service to get

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Speaker 2: this move and engage the sector and the industry to

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Speaker 2: get this done and protect animals.

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Speaker 1: Danny. I know that there'll be some people listening this

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Speaker 1: morning who will be thinking to themselves, well, why you know,

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Speaker 1: if there's nothing going on, why does it need to change?

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Speaker 1: But has there actually been incidents that have been happening

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Speaker 1: that maybe some of us aren't aware of.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So in the ANTI it's slightly different. In rs

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Speaker 2: PCA is the only juris the NT is the only

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Speaker 2: jurisdiction where RSPCA is not responsible for animal welfare inspectorates

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Speaker 2: the NT government. But we are made aware because people

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Speaker 2: makes aware of cases and there has been a number aware.

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Speaker 2: I spoke to the former Minister on issues of where

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Speaker 2: we're aware of people who have previously had convictions for

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Speaker 2: animal cruelty offenses and subsequent other issues pop up and

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Speaker 2: had this Act been in place, they would have been

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Speaker 2: given penalty points that some stage the court can actually

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Speaker 2: ban them from ownly animals in the future. But because

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Speaker 2: we don't have this Act in place, these additional cases

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Speaker 2: don't count towards anything.

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Speaker 1: So somebody can severely mistreat their dog, for example, and

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Speaker 1: then there's still in a situation down the track where

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Speaker 1: they're able to get another one.

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Speaker 2: Yep, that there is potential, whereas this act would work

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Speaker 2: towards stopping that.

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Speaker 1: Danny, how important is it from your perspective as a

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Speaker 1: chairman of the RSPCA, that really we get moving on this.

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Speaker 2: Look, it's not just the RSPCA. The territory has the

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Speaker 2: highest pet ownership in Australia. I think the community, communities

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Speaker 2: expert dictations are that we look after animals. You know,

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Speaker 2: we care about our animals, but there are at pets

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Speaker 2: at home or the animals in the industry for production,

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Speaker 2: and the industry support this as well, so we just

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Speaker 2: you know, for three years. I think the industry wants

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Speaker 2: to certainty. We want to see this in place that

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Speaker 2: the benefits and the protection it was supposed to give

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Speaker 2: animals actually occur.

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Speaker 1: Well, Dannymore, the chairman of the RSPCA, we really appreciate

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Speaker 1: your time this morning. Thanks so much for having a

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Speaker 1: chat with me.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Codie