Animal welfare groups will seek a suite of Victorian pig industry reforms at a parliamentary hearing in Melbourne on Tuesday, Stock & Land can reveal.
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Members of the Victorian Parliament's Legislative Council Economy and Infrastructure Committee will hear from groups such as the Australian Alliance for Animals and Animals Australia.
The recommendations made to the parliamentary committee, which included government and opposition representatives, include an outright ban on VIC pig farming.
Pig industry groups will defend the sector on Wednesday this week, the second day of the two day hearing.
The Legislative Council Economy and Infrastructure Committee was chaired by Member for Northern Victoria Georgie Purcell, a member of the Animal Justice Party.
MPs David Davis, John Berger, Katherine Copsey, Bev McArthur, Tom McIntosh, Evan Mulholland, Sandra Terpstra, Gaelle Broad, Georgie Crozier, David Ettershank, Michael Galea, Renee Heath, Sarah Mansfield and Rachel Payne are all also members of the committee.
In Tuesday's hearing, the MPs were set to hear calls from welfare groups to reform pig housing regulations, slaughter and export.
All groups said carbon dioxide stunning of pigs in Victoria must be banned.
The groups also called for the introduction of regulations to prohibit what they termed as the "extreme" confinement of sows in sow stalls and farrowing crates.
They said regulations must be introduced to prohibit pig husbandry procedures such as tail docking and castration without anaesthesia or analgesia.
Honing in on a pig's intelligence, the welfare groups called for regulation which would see all pigs provided with adequate substrate and enrichment.
The Farm Transparency Project (FTP), was one of the groups most daring in its asks of the VIC parliament.
The group, a non-profit animal rights charity founded in 2014, said there should be a two year phase-out of commercial pig farming across the state.
FTP executive director Chris Delforce said pig farmers should be provided financial compensation and supported in transitioning to more ethical, sustainable methods of income generation.
He said public funds must no longer be provided to the pork industry but instead diverted into alternatives to slaughter-based meat, including plant-based and cultivated meat.
He said such alternatives should be made a more affordable option for Victorian consumers.
Mr Delforce said the state should intervene and roll out public education campaigns aimed at dispelling what he said were "myths propagated by slaughter-based industries that may otherwise discourage consumers from trying these products".
He said "truth-in-labelling" must be mandated, requiring all packaging for pig meat products to contain accurate information regarding the confinement and slaughter methods used in the pig's production.
He suggested that on a pack of sausages, there should be a QR code for consumers to go to a website which would show footage of pig slaughter.
The legislative committee even went as far as to invite cultivated meat company Magic Valley in Victoria, and its chief executive Paul Bevan to make a submission as to why it should be out with pig meat and in with cultivated meat.
Mr Bevan said VIC pig farming created "serious ethical and public health issues".
He said his company's cultivation of [fake] pork products presents a "ground-breaking opportunity to address the ethical, environmental, and health issues currently plaguing the pig farming industry".
"Magic Valley has demonstrated that cultivated pork is not only feasible but also offers taste parity with traditional methods," he said.
"We strongly recommend that the Victorian government consider supporting the cultivated meat industry as a strategic and humane alternative to conventional pig farming."
Australian Animal Alliance policy director doctor Jed Goodfellow took aim at the standing of pig welfare policy in VIC.
The alliance represented six of Australia's animal protection organisations including Animals Australia, World Animal Protection Australia, Humane Society International Australia, FOUR PAWS Australia, Compassion in World Farming, and Voiceless, the animal protection institute.
Dr Goodfellow said there were competitive tensions that arose when animal welfare policy and regulatory responsibilities were assigned to Agriculture Victoria.
He said these "governance arrangements" posed challenges to the promotion and implementation of animal welfare standards consistent with community expectations.
He said therefore, the committee should recommend the Victorian Government establish an independent Victorian Office of Animal Welfare under the proposed Animal Care and Protection Act with responsibility for overseeing the development of animal welfare policy.
Dr Goodfellow said the Victorian Government should go further, and adopt a national leadership role in actively promoting the establishment of a national Animal Welfare Commission.
On pig exports, Animals Australia recommended that pig welfare regulations must be harmonised across export and domestic abattoirs.
The group also said the early weaning of piglets should be ended and that they should be socialised before joining other pigs.
Several of the groups also called for the banning of boar crates, used in pig breeding.
Victoria's farming and meat groups will offer their rebuttal to the welfare group assertions and recommendations on Wednesday.
The Victorian Farmers' Federation (VFF), Australian Meat Industry Council, Australian Pork Ltd and VIC pig farmers will take to the parliamentary stage.
