Greens Animal Welfare Spokesperson, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, has backed the RSPCA's calls for national animal protection laws following a horror month of animal cruelty.
The Greens have a policy of introducing national animal cruelty laws.
Senator Faruqi said:
"The RSPCA is absolutely right to say that cruelty is cruelty, no matter where it happens in Australia. The existing patchwork of state laws that cover animal cruelty are out of date and the penalties pale in comparison to the crime.
"The community expects zero tolerance for animal cruelty and sadly the states continue to fail to protect animals.
"Animal welfare laws are wildly inconsistent across the country. For example, aggravated animal cruelty, where an animal is killed or seriously injured by cruelty, has a maximum penalty of seven years jail in Queensland, but just two years in New South Wales. Some of these laws were drafted up to forty years ago and are completely out of sync with community expectations and animal welfare needs.
"Just this week we have seen a person literally rip the head of a kookaburra in Western Australia and they could get off scot free.
"Whether it be in the greyhound and horse racing industries, factory farms or intensive breeding of cats and dogs, animals continue to suffer because they fall through the cracks," she concluded.
