With Queensland council elections planned for the end of March, I thought that I would email Ray Smith, the ALP candidate for Brisbane Lord Mayor, and ask him what his position is regarding the use of animals in circuses.
Below is a copy of the email that I sent him.
Your team’s policy regarding the use of animals
Cameron Blewett <>Sat, Dec 31, 2011 at 12:23
To: ray@raysmith.com.auDear Mr Smith,
With the Brisbane City Council elections coming up at the end of March 2012, I would like to know what your policies are regarding the way that businesses use animals within the BCC boundaires?
For example, will your administration take the step to prohibit the use of exotic and domestic animals in circuses and for entertainment in events such as rodeos, on both private and council owned land?
Also, will your administration take steps to outlaw the sale of pets at pet stores when a large number of animals are killed in council and RSPCA shelters on a weekly basis?
The current administration has side stepped this issue by claiming it is the responsibility of the state government, even though there is scope within the By-Laws to control these activities.
Your team has the tag line of “Getting the priorities right” therefore, I would like to think that moving the City of Brisbane into the 21st Century by outlawing these archaic and inhumane practices will be one of those priorities.
I thank you for the time in reading this email, and I look forward to your reply.
Regards,
Cameron Blewett
I do that they received it because I got a reply from the autoresponder, except I didn’t get an actual response from Mr Smith or anyone else. Allowing for the end of year and silly season shut down, I waited until 17 Jan to send him a follow up email, which I did, and I received an autoresponse for that one too. It is now 8 days later, and I am yet to have either the original email or the one sent on 17 Jan replied to.
Whilst I am not holding my breath in the hopes of getting a reply, it shouldn’t come as any sort of surprise that I haven’t. It seems that everything that the ALP do, both on a state and federal level is aimed at paying lip service to those in both the animal rights and animal welfare camps.
Federal ALP, under Gillard, stops then restarts live exports while Queensland’s Anna Bligh is spending millions to build a new slaughterhouse in North West Qld, and to look for another markets for the animals, both dead and alive.
Then there is the Qld governments pointless ‘tougher’ legislation for animal cruelty, when what is on the books now isn’t being enforced, and not to mention pretending to bring in legislation to end puppy mills.
Sadly, this once again shows that when it comes to the treatment and use of animals, it is the consumer and wider community that has a better chance of bringing about change. Don’t rely on ANY government to bring in effective legislative changes.
If anyone reading this has had better luck in getting a response from Mr Smith or any member of his team I would love to hear about it.
This article was written by the founder of VeganPolice.com.au, Cameron Blewett.
Cameron is a long term vegan (30+yrs), and is passionate about veganism, and helping people to understand more about it and giving other animals equal consideration.
You can find Cameron’s other rants on his website, CameronBlewett.blog