About the AJF
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The Animal Justice Fund was established to protect animals from cruelty and to improve the lives of animals in Australia. The AJF will support strategic litigation, conduct public awareness campaigns and offer rewards for the provision of information that assists authorities to bring those responsible for animal cruelty before the courts.
Whilst the AJF opposes all animal cruelty, the primary focus of the AJF are animals in Australia who have been exempted from the full protection of animal cruelty laws. Few Australians are aware that animals raised for food are denied the same protection from acts of cruelty as companion animals despite having the same capacity to suffer.
Factory farming remains the greatest source of animal suffering in Australia impacting on some 500 million Australian animals (laying hens, pigs and 'meat' chickens) annually. Animal production practices such as the battery cage system for laying hens and pregnant sow stalls are being banned and phased out in other countries, yet are still currently permitted in Australia.
Legal exemptions allow factory farmed animals to be subjected to procedures without pain relief and severe confinement, often resulting in physical injuries and distress. Similar treatment if inflicted on dogs or cats would be cruelty offences.
Rarely if ever are unannounced or routine inspections conducted in factory farms due to in most states a lack of legal powers – meaning that literally millions of animals in this country have no policing body checking on their welfare. Where a state does have legal power it is rarely exercised.
Therefore the only persons in a position to represent the interests of these animals on a daily basis are employees. For this reason the AJF reward system has been established to provide an incentive, where appropriate, for employees to come forward with information and/or evidence that exposes cruel treatment of animals.
Beyond that, and perhaps more centrally, the AJF will act to encourage strategic litigation, which if successful, can produce a significant animal welfare outcome. For example, there may be a case of misleading and deceptive conduct in the marketing and advertising of products on the basis that the animals are raised in better conditions than is in fact the case.
The AJF will also operate a public awareness arm which will mount high profile campaigns highlighting the lives and treatment endured by animals in factory farms. Currently, consumers, many who care deeply about animal welfare, are unwittingly financially supporting animal cruelty through purchasing factory farmed products.
Whilst the primary focus of the Animal Justice Fund is factory farming, information is also welcomed that exposes animal cruelty in other commercial or recreational practices.
Information/evidence provided to the AJF will where appropriate be assessed and acted upon on advice from the Barrister’s Animal Welfare Panel. BAWP is a national unitary body of over 120 Australian barristers whose objects include engaging in strategic and other litigation which advances animal welfare.
The AJF will also liaise closely with state enforcement agencies. Where information is provided that requires urgent action to alleviate suffering or to investigate a potential breach of law, information will be immediately brought to the attention of the relevant enforcement body in that state.