A new members’ bill requiring overseas animal products to meet New Zealand’s welfare standards might result in only minimal price increases, Green MP Steve Abel says.
Speaking to Q+A, Abel said Kiwi farmers are operating to very high animal welfare standards, but that doesn’t always mean consumers are getting cruelty-free products.
“As a principle, we’ve set in place these high welfare standards in New Zealand,” he said.
“There’s been great advocacy, and the public has demanded that we don’t have sow stalls for pigs that are cruel, we don’t have battery cages for chickens.
“And yet, we’ve got a problem in that there are imported products from overseas that don’t meet our welfare standards.”
“They’re basically undercutting our high welfare standards, and undercutting our local farmers who are producing in a more welfare-appropriate way.”
He said the proposed legislation was popular with the public.
Surveying carried out on behalf of advocacy group Animal Policy International suggested 83% of New Zealanders agree with the principle that imported animal products should have the same animal welfare standards as those applied locally.
Abel said research from the same group claimed food prices wouldn’t significantly increase for consumers if the law change were made.
“They analysed that the overall increase in potential cost of a higher welfare pork product for example might be as little as seven-to-74 cents per week for the average New Zealand consumer,” said the Green Party MP.
He also denied that putting more stringent standards in place on imports might harm New Zealand’s trade deals.
“There’s a principle in international trade where a country that has a higher moral value – such as wanting to protect the welfare of animals – therefore has a base for restricting certain things.”
“So in the EU [European Union] there’s a restriction on the import of cat and dog fur, for example,” said Abel, noting that many countries also bar the sale of whale meat.
“Here in New Zealand, 80% of New Zealanders want to see this change made, so there’s a strong moral basis for taking this position.”
Q+A with Jack Tame is made with the support of New Zealand On Air
