Above video: The Frant - Do we hate vegans because deep down...we know they're right?
The recent vegan protests that shut down Melbourne CBD have thrust the issue of animal rights back into the spotlight. While their treatment of the issue appears to be vastly different, moments like the banning of animal testing earlier this year show there is some ground for potential cooperation.
Dr Siobhan O’Sullivan is a Senior Lecturer in Social Policy at the University. She's looked into the major political parties' plan for animal rights in Australia.
Labor
If Labor wins office, it will implement the following measurable pledges:
1. The establishment of an independent animal welfare office;
2. The development of a federal animal welfare strategy;
3. An immediate end to live sheep exports during the northern summer.
Labor also has a range of non-measurable animal welfare policies:
4. Greater cooperation between the states and territories;
5. A review of ESCAS (which monitors the live export supply chain);
6. Greater transparency around live animal exports
7. And they will ‘propose a plan which would phase out the live sheep trade within five years’.
The Coalition
The Coalition has no formal animal welfare policy linked to the 2019 election. That said, following last month’s protests by vegans in Melbourne, PM Scott Morrison has committed to cracking down on animal activists.
The Greens
The Australian Greens have a long and comprehensive animal welfare policy. But the Greens and animal advocates are not always comfortable bedfellows.
The conflict centres around the proper treatment of non-native, free living animals. The best philosophical minds of our time have not been able to resolve tensions over what (or who) we should value more: individual animals, or species groups. The Greens haven’t done any better.
Individuals within the Greens such as Lee Rhiannon and Andrew Bartlett have long-established links with vegan communities. But the Australian Greens are far from a vegan political party.
What about the Animal Justice Party?
The Animal Justice Party is running candidates in numerous seats. While unlikely to win a Senate spot, they have snatched three seats in state parliaments around Australia.
This challenges the prevailing wisdom which suggests that voters simply do not consider animals when casting their ballot.
At the end of the day...
If you love your cat and dog, but think that some other animals aren’t getting a fair go, then Labor may be for you. If Labor ends live sheep exports during the northern summer, that will be a big win for pragmatic animal welfare organisations such as Animals Australia and RSPCA Australia, who have fought hard to bring that issue to national attention.
Those same organisations have also invested heavily in gaining some degree of insider status in Canberra. It will of course also be a win for unions who do not like to see the value add of slaughter being taken offshore. Finally, a ban, even if only partial, will certainly be a win for the sheep. Their lives will still be short, but some will be spared the many miseries of live export.
But if your form of animal loving is more hard-line, you are left with a difficult choice. If you’re vegan, and you avoid meat primarily for the environment, then the Greens are probably right for you. They offer a strong environmental platform along with a host of progressive animal protection policies. Of course, they will not be in government.
At best they will influence the balance of power in the Senate. Even in that position, with so many injustices in need of urgent address in Australia, it’s perhaps unlikely that they will flex their muscle for the benefit of nonhuman animals.
To the casual observer it might therefore seem that the Animal Justice Party will be the obvious electoral choice for the more hard-line within the animal advocacy community. But this is not self-evidently so.
Vegan voters know that the Animal Justice Party is unlikely to have electoral success. They may also strongly value a range of other policies, offered only by the larger parties.
What this complex picture suggests is that we have probably not seen the last of the major protests in our city streets.
I think it’s likely that those who care deeply enough about animals to commit to not eating them, will vote on Saturday just like everybody else, but will continue to pursue change outside the formal structures of parliamentary politics. They will do so in the hope that one day politicians will catch up with them and the world may become a (somewhat) better place for animals.
Dr. Siobhan O’Sullivan is a Senior Lecturer in Social Policy at UNSW, Sydney. She hosts a weekly podcast on animal issues called ‘Knowing Animals’.
