Green Party MP Sue Kedgley has asked for the first debate on her bill on caged farming of pigs and chickens to be delayed, saying she wants voting on it to be done on conscience rather than party politics.The Animal Welfare Amendment (Treatment of Animals
Green Party MP Sue Kedgley has asked for the first debate on her bill on caged farming of pigs and chickens to be delayed, saying she wants voting on it to be done on conscience rather than party politics.
The Animal Welfare Amendment (Treatment of Animals) Bill was due to have its first reading in Parliament today.
It focuses on tightening the Animal Welfare Act and eliminating loopholes that allow practices such as housing sows and hens in crates and cages.
At a rally in the grounds of Parliament today, which involved fellow MP Kevin Hague climbing into a mock sow crate, Ms Kedgley said she had written to the Speaker asking for a conscience vote to be used when it came to voting on the bill.
A spokeswoman from the Office of the Clerk said the bill would be delayed but she was yet to see a request relating to the conscience vote issue.
The bill has Labour and Maori Party support, but National said last week it would not support it.
Mr Hague was one of a few people to take up a challenge to climb under a small cage in front of Parliament. "I can't turn around and I'm smaller than a pig," he observed.
Labour MP Phil Heatley spoke about caged farming being "extreme cruelty on an industrial scale", but declined an invitation to get on his hands and knees and crawl into the cage. "I wouldn't put my dog in that crate," he said.
