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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-11-10 Daily Xml
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Personal Explanation

LIVESTOCK SLAUGHTER

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (15:25): I seek leave to make a personal explanation.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: I would like to put on the record clarification of remarks made about the ritual slaughter of animals in South Australia. The national standard for the slaughter of animals for human consumption is the Australian Standard for the hygienic production and transportation of meat and meat products for human consumption, AS 4696:2007. The national standard, which South Australia supports, does in fact permit ritual slaughter under clause 7.12, as I stated yesterday.

It is this clause which effectively exempts a small number of abattoirs in South Australia from the requirement to pre-stun animals, which is required in all other establishments not practising ritual slaughter. This standard, however, entails a number of provisions. In the case of bovines it includes the following:

a method of restraint to ensure the animals remain standing in an upright position and do not thrash during the slaughter process;

a method of head restraint during the slaughter process;

procedures for stunning the animal immediately after the throat is cut that must involved at least two slaughtermen, one to cut the throat and one to stun. Stunning must be achieved with the use of a captive bolt pistol, with a second pistol immediately available where the first malfunctions.

corrective action procedures to immediately stun an animal to render it unconscious in any case where the animal becomes distressed during the ritual slaughter process.

In addition, it states that controlling authorities must ensure that arrangements for ritual slaughter are approved based on the above requirements, and that compliance with these requirements is monitored and enforced in support of AS 4696:2002.

The RSPCA, the charity tasked with the enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act in South Australia—

The PRESIDENT: Order! The honourable member is supposed to be making a personal explanation, not debating or explaining or visiting where you have already been.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! It is supposed to be a personal explanation where you are explaining—

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: I am getting to that, Mr President.

The PRESIDENT: Well, hurry up, or I will sit you down.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: The RSPCA, the charity tasked with the enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act in South Australia, has placed on the record its strident opposition to the practice of ritual slaughter, calling it a 'brutal practice that should be banned'. The RSPCA has stated:

It is unacceptable to cut the throat of an animal or sever blood vessels while the animal is fully conscious.

I draw the minister's attention to the fact that the RSPCA does not have free and unfettered access to establishments that practise ritual slaughter, and requests to identify those establishments have been rebuffed by PIRSA on the grounds of being commercial-in-confidence and specifically citing the Primary Produce (Food Safety Schemes) Act 2004.

So, I would draw the minister's attention to the fact that the RSPCA does not have this access, that we do, in fact, have ritual slaughter in this state where there is an exemption to the stunning of these animals, that yesterday you claimed—

The Hon. G.E. Gago interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: On the radio this morning you claimed that no cattle in South Australia were subject to this—

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: —and yet you have now admitted that that is true. It is sheep, goats and cattle. We have four slaughterhouses—

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: —with an exemption and a total of nine—

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. Ms Franks will get to the explanation.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: —potentially able to use this exemption under ritual slaughter, and you do not have the RSPCA having free and unfettered access to ensure that this process is being undertaken appropriately.

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. Ms Franks—

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: I have finished, Mr President.

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