The Animal Justice Party has secured the final position in the NSW upper house ahead of the controversial No Land Tax party (NLT), potentially placing issues surrounding the neglect of animals and animal protection on to the political agenda.
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Animal Justice Party spokesperson for NSW Michael Walsh said he was happy with the result, which had taken some time coming.
“It’s been a long drawn out process,” he said.
“It’s taken a lot of blood, sweat and tears, but it’s just the start.
“We’ll be looking at the major parties to put out policies valuing animals as more than just a commodity.”
While the Coalition government will only need the support of Fred Nile's Christian Democratic Party (CDP) to pass most legislation through Parliament, it may be forced to negotiate with new Animal Justice MP Mark Pearson on issues the CDP choose not to support.
Mr Walsh said that working to negotiate with the Coalition on issues important to the party can be difficult.
“With the Liberals and Nationals all they look at is the economic consequences of what they do,” he said.
The party’s win may see issues such as puppy farms, hunting in national parks and the high rate of animal euthanasia placed onto the political agenda in the near future.
“We are totally opposed to it [hunting] regardless of where it is,” Mr Walsh said.
“There’s something not right when someone shoots an animal for pleasure.
“We have no time for it,” he said.
The upper house vote was almost as vital for the government as the lower house at last month's election, because the Coalition needs a working majority to pass its reforms, including its controversial power privatisation plan.
On the issue of the $20 billion partial privatisation plan of the state’s power network, Mr Walsh sounded less sure of where the party’s vote lay.
“We lean a little to it not being privatised,” he said.
“When something is privatised there is less government oversight, and there’s also the issue that people buy things for profit.”
Mr Walsh also said that an awareness of the wellbeing of animals, people and the environment as a whole was extremely important to Australia’s future.
“We came to this country and just took it over, the Indigenous people and the animals should have been protected,” he said
“We have to learn to live together, and allow animals to live as nature intended.
“They [the government] need to look at that as a first and foremost thing,” he said.
The Animal Justice Party is rapidly growing strength with almost 100,000 votes in the last federal election, and more than tripling that percentage in the recent Victorian state election.
Meanwhile, Wolumla resident Frank Farrell is still yet to be paid for his work with the NLT on election day on March 28, after placing a call to party leader Peter Jones.
Mr Farrell and Ryker Bailey both responded to an ad requesting people to man polling booths on polling day with a promise of $30 an hour for 10 hours work, including bonuses should the party garner enough votes in the electorate.
“I actually got on to Mr Jones and he told me to fill out an application online,” Mr Farrell said.
“I’ll give him till the end of the week, then see.
“How can they get away with something like this?
“There doesn’t seem to be any checks or balances on this, and it’s the fact he was so silent, you don’t know where you are,” he said.
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