ALRC President, Professor David Weisbrot AM, was cited as saying that the treatment of animals is increasingly becoming a social and legal issue, as well as an important economic one.

“Within Australia, there is good evidence that labelling laws have failed to keep pace with consumer demand. A quick visit to the supermarket indicates this problem—the shelves are full of boxes of factory-produced eggs confusingly stamped with labels such as ‘farm fresh’, ‘all natural’ and ‘barn raised’. It is difficult to know how consumers can make sense of these labels when they want to make an informed choice to support the humane treatment of animals.

“To date, the focus of food standards law has been on human health, with no consideration of the treatment of animals in the farming and food process.

“Laws that address animal welfare and anti-cruelty are a matter for state and territory governments, which has led to inconsistent approaches to regulation, creating confusion for producers and animal welfare groups."

He went on to say that “These are complex matters, requiring the balancing of social, economic and environmental interests. Debates about possible changes to the law are at an early stage in Australia. By publishing this edition of Reform—which includes a range of perspectives from food producers, lawyers and animal rights advocates—we aim to stimulate informed community debate about these issues.”