RSPCA Australia has welcomed the Independent Panel on Poultry Welfare’s draft recommendation to phase-out battery cages for layer hens in Australia.
The draft was tabled in Federal Parliament on June 22 and will be presented to state and territory agricultural ministers once finalised.
“The community has also said loud and clear that they want to see a phase-out of battery cages — over 167,000 people made submission to the public consultation process for this review, the vast majority opposing the use of battery cages,” RSPCA Australia chief executive Richard Mussell said.
More than 75 per cent of OECD countries have already acted to transition away from battery cages.
The egg industry is on the same page, with Egg Farmers of Australia urging the Federal Government to not waste time accepting the long-awaited update to the Australian Animal Welfare Standards and Guidelines.
Egg Farmers of Australia chief executive Melinda Hashimoto said family-run egg farms were under pressure due to a current oversupply of eggs, biosecurity issues and the slow progression on the Standards and Guidelines for poultry.
“After years of delays, the Standards and Guidelines — which regulate the care of hens on farms — are expected to be considered in the coming months,” she said.
“We’d expect this process to continue on schedule.”
Mrs Hashimoto said a priority was the out-of-session work of the Agricultural Ministers Forum to ensure the introduction of the long-awaited welfare standards.
These new welfare standards have been in the works since 2005, and in 2020 an independent panel was formed to supervise the final steps of the drafting process.
This independent panel is the same panel which introduced the draft to phase-out caged eggs.
