Will NSW establish an Office of Animal Welfare, and will it be ‘independent’?
The NSW government has introduced legislation to establish an “independent” Office of Animal Welfare.
The office would be given carriage of welfare complaints, compliance, and promoting best practice.
If established as proposed, it would sit within the Premier’s Department and report to the minister for agriculture.
The office would also be responsible for $12.8 million in funding given to RSPCA NSW and Animal Welfare League NSW (AWL NSW) to run the state’s enforcement regime.
Minister for Agriculture Tara Moriarty said the office represented a significant step forward in the state’s modernisation of animal welfare.