ANIMAL ACTIVISM —
LEGISLATION
819. Hon MICHAEL MISCHIN to the Leader of the House
representing the Attorney General:
I advise that Hon Peter Collier is
absent on urgent parliamentary business.
I
refer to the Attorney General's assertion on 23 May 2019 during a Legislative
Assembly estimates hearing that his legislation for increased
punishments and other measures to deal with vegan anti–animal cruelty
activists ''will go to cabinet on Monday week''—namely,
on 3 June.
(1) Has any submission for approval
to draft gone before cabinet; and, if not, why not?
(2) Has any submission for approval
to print gone before cabinet; and, if not, why not?
(3) What is the status of that
promised bill and when will it be introduced?
(4) Will the bill
extend to providing additional measures to protect businesses and the community
from, and punish, climate change activists who have threatened radical action
to promote their cause; and, if not, why not?
Hon SUE
ELLERY replied:
I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question.
(1) Yes.
(2)–(3) The bill is
currently being drafted and it will be introduced into Parliament in due
course.
(4) No. The
government is taking exceptional measures to protect farmers because it
recognises that farmers are particularly vulnerable to these acts of trespass
since they typically live where they work and live in remote and regional
areas. The existing criminal law is otherwise sufficient and police are well
prepared to enforce the law should climate change activists breach it.