Protecting animals from cruelty and exploitation

The systematic mistreatment of animals must be understood in the context of capitalist exploitation. Our society turns everything into a commodity, stripped of intrinsic worth and valued only for what it can yield as profit. The commodification and exploitation of all living things is the central cause of suffering and alienation in our society, and results in desensitising people to cruelty and brutality, both towards humans and towards animals. Victorian Socialists want a society in which humans live in harmony with animals and nature rather than in a state of war against them.

What we think

1. Animals communicate, form relationships and experience pain and distress.
2. Humans are distinct from other animals, but we share with them many needs and capacities that are fundamental to our relationship with ourselves and the natural world.
3. Capitalism systematically degrades both animals and humans by subordinating our natural wellbeing to the profit motive.
4. While individual acts of cruelty are reprehensible, the far greater cause of suffering to animals is capitalist industry, both directly (in the dairy, poultry, meat and fur industries, for example) and indirectly (as the result of systematic environmental degradation).
5. Capitalist expansion, in particular mining, gas extraction, aquaculture, logging and agriculture, is the greatest threat to native animals and their habitats due to its exploitative, unplanned and unsustainable character.

We’ll fight to

1. Establish an animal welfare regulatory and enforcement body with offices and staff across the state, including prosecutors, rangers, veterinarians and educators.
2. Criminally penalise cruelty towards animals, confiscate animals from perpetrators and introduce bans (for both individuals and companies) on future ownership or custodianship of animals.
3. Introduce specific criminal penalties for the industrial or commercial abuse of animals.
4. Create a system of well-funded, publicly owned and run shelters and sanctuaries for rescued animals and a rescued animal adoption register.
5. Advocate for the federal government to end the export of live animals for slaughter, consumption or profit, and use Victoria’s licensing and inspection powers to close any live export holding, assembly or transport facilities operating in the state.
6. End intensive and cruel farming and aquaculture practices and unsustainable fishing practices.
7. Safeguard, preserve and rehabilitate the natural environment and native animal habitats to the greatest extent.
8. End the cruel or unnecessary use of animals in product testing, teaching and research.
9. Introduce stricter regulation of recreational hunting and fishing to protect endangered species and ensure that permit holders are adequately trained to minimise harm.
10. Methods of hunting or capture that are unsustainable, cruel, or that inflict undue pain on animals should be banned outright.
11. Introduce limits on the use of animals by Victoria Police: end the training of animals to attack humans; prohibit deploying animals in situations where physical conflict with humans is a foreseeable risk; disband the mounted branch; and prohibit the use of dogs for crowd or threat control.
12. Provide subsidies for the desexing of cats and dogs to control stray animal numbers, and support pet owners in meeting requirements for the safe confinement of cats and dogs to their properties.
13. Introduce strict and comprehensive regulation of the horse racing and greyhound industries to ensure they are cruelty-free, with harsh penalties, including fines, bans and imprisonment, for trainers and owners of racing animals found guilty of cruelty.
14. Create publicly funded vet clinics for working-class people with a form of ’Medicare for Pets’.
15. Allow dogs in pubs.