Local Vet owner of Australian Pet Nutrition and the Animal Wellness Hub Dr Roz Barker has welcomed the NT’s animal welfare reforms, saying she advocated for tougher penalties for animal cruelty and changes to restraining dogs in vehicles but would like to see animals not referred to as property in the legislation

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now we know that a suite of animal protection reforms
have been passed in the Northern Territory Parliament with Strength
which strengthen penalties, expand enforcement powers, and ensure the laws
reflect community expectation. Now key changes include tougher penalties for
cruelty offenses, clearer requirements for restraining dogs in vehicles, new

(00:21):
restrictions on dog prong collars and electrical devices, as well
as greater power for authorized officers to enter businesses where
animal activities are being carried out, with the maximum penalty
for best reality increased from seven to ten years jail.
Now joining us on the line is a local vet doctor,

(00:43):
Roz Barker, who was heavily involved in advocating for these changes.
Good morning Ros, Good morning Katie. Good to have you
on the show. Ros. What's your reaction to these reforms.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
I think it's absolutely fantastic. I think it's finally brought
to Northern Territory out of the dark ages when it
comes to animal welfare, meaning there's still work to be done,
but these really have strengthened and said the government has
made a stand and said, you know, we take animal
welfare seriously, so it's about time.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
Yeah, and look, it does seem as though most people,
I think the large majority of people feel as though
these are good changes. What changes were you advocating for.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
Most of them? To be honest, we were, you know,
a big supporter of the infringement offenses. It really gives
that animal welfare officers, you know, more power and more
tools than their toolkit to make change. You know, we've
got the changes that have moved over to the criminal Code,
which means that they can involve you know, police powers

(01:44):
where necessary. And also you know these common sense things
like the mini Sefagloida said, where you know, the way
we should be restraining dogs in vehicles and you know,
access to break dogs out of vehicles in an emergency.
That's all in there now and that's really really important
for the Northern Territory context.

Speaker 1 (02:02):
Can you shed any light in terms of the reforms
around electronic devices so.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
They're more clarification to what was already in there in
terms of like where you shouldn't be shocking animals, in
terms of you know, genital's face others anus again, common
sense things. I don't think anyone would like to be
shocked there. So that was an update that was already
in the Act and this is updated to clarify that.

Speaker 1 (02:29):
In terms of I know that that in regards to
the increase of the seven years jailed to ten years
for an offense of best reality, it's widely known this
was a response to the Adam Britain matter. In your opinion,
does it go far enough? No?

Speaker 2 (02:46):
I think I think it could be, you know, increased
even further. We're talking about severe depravity, beyond what anyone
can actually handle. In terms of I think that you know,
those people that were involved in that, you know, they're
still covering from that, and that was acknowledged in Parliament.
But where we've gone, there's only up. You know, we
can only increase that from here. But I definitely think

(03:09):
there's always room to strength and that level of depravity
and the replications.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
I agree. I agree in terms of how we now
compared to other states and territories, do you know what
we like? Are our you know, are our rules and
animal perfection? Goodness me, I'm struggling with my words this morning.
Animal protection reforms. Have we gone further than what other
states have? And do you think that's a step in
the right direction.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
We've definitely taken a step in the right direction. We're
not the toughest in the country, and you know there's
things that like we don't have sentience in our Act.
We still refer to animals as property, whereas you know
the Act have now introduced that as well. So there's
room to improve. But you know we're definitely up there
as leaders now, which is great to see.

Speaker 1 (03:56):
Ross. Do you reckon that these reforms are going to
act as a straw deterrent for animal cruelty?

Speaker 2 (04:03):
I think there's a step in the right direction, Katie.
You know, having spent a lot of time talking with
the Director of Animal Welfare and animal welfare officers, they
had to focus a lot on education. But now they've
got the next tour, which is infringement notices, which plays
a big role because otherwise they're only step from education
was to take that to prosecution. And we know the

(04:23):
court system is so burdened as it is to take
a welfare case all the way to prosecution, it's very
costly and difficult. But now the infringement notices provide that
middle ground, and you know they've got so much more
power beyond education, which we know in just some cases
this doesn't work.

Speaker 1 (04:39):
Ross. What's been the reaction from you know, not only
from you, but from others involved in really advocating for this,
because I know it has been you know, quite a
team if it, I guess you'd say in terms of
animal welfare organizations, industry groups. You know, there's been quite
a few people that have been involved in really trying
to push for these changes.

Speaker 2 (05:00):
Yeah, you know, this really start, this big push really
started for us and getting community together back in twenty
twenty two to gather all the perspectives and the things
we want to change. And overall, I think the community
is really happy about it. You're never going to make
everybody happy, but what it's about is making the community safer,
an animal safer, and I think that the buy and

(05:21):
large everyone's really behind that.

Speaker 1 (05:23):
On Look, we always give governments a lot of stick
if they're not listening, but in this situation, it seems
as though they have.

Speaker 2 (05:30):
They've absolutely listened. They've got us, you know, in front
of people, they've listened. They've you know, I said that
they have Dare I said, this is a really a
good example of democracy and action where both sides have
come together, but they've also listened to the public and
taken on board so much of this public feedback during
the Havevier say and then the Scrutiny Committee process.

Speaker 1 (05:51):
Well that is good to hear, really good to speak
to you this morning, Roz. Thank you so much for
having a chat with us, No problem, Thank you,