Almost $150,000 of Victorian taxpayers’ money has been spent by Agriculture Minister Jaala Pulford on an offshore review of Australia’s poultry welfare practices, in the middle of a heated debate on the future of caged-egg farming.
Ms Pulford’s office awarded the $148,395 contract to the University of Bristol, after refusing to join other state agriculture ministers in signing off on the release of a nationally agreed draft poultry welfare standard, based on an Australian research review.
At the time Ms Pulford said Victoria was commissioning its own review.
“To ensure we have good advice to support our participation in the national process, Agriculture Victoria will conduct a short desktop review of the published science,” she said at the time.
But since then it appears Ms Pulford has had a change of heart, with the work contracted out to Bristol University, which delivered a 321-page report based on a literature review of 350 research papers on laying hens.
Almost two-thirds of the papers were published by Europeans and about 22 per cent by North Americans. Just 6.3 per cent were by Australian researchers.
The study found conventional cages prevented “birds from performing basic movements essential for good health, and denies birds the possibility of expressing their behavioural needs”.
Victorian Farmers Federation egg group vice-president Brian Ahmed said it appeared Ms Pulford “went to Bristol, because they would give her the answer she wanted”.
In the meantime, delays in releasing the draft national poultry welfare standard, which was initiated in March 2013, has brought investment in the Victorian egg industry to a halt.
Mr Ahmed said he and other farmers were not going to invest in caged or free-range systems until they knew where the State Government was headed.
Mr Ahmed, who produces caged and free-range eggs said the reality was caged-egg farms still produced the bulk of the nation’s eggs.
