If you believe that animals should be treated humanely then you must support this petition. Please take 2 minutes to read the following: The Parliament of Western Australia passed the Animal Welfare Act 2002 for the purpose of providing for the welfare, safety and health of animals. In our system of government, it is the duty and responsibility of the Government of the day to administer the various Acts of the Parliament. At the present time, this duty falls upon Hon. Colin Barnett and Liberal/National coalition which has formed Government in Western Australia. Each Act of the Parliament is assigned to a Ministerial Portfolio. The responsible Minister has the aid of an agency of Government in which to administer the Act. With regard to the Animal Welfare Act 2002, the responsible Minister is the Hon Ken Baston, Minister for Agriculture and Food, and the responsible agency is the Department of Agriculture and Food (“DAFWA”). Simply put, it is the responsibility of Minister for Agriculture and Food, with the assistance of DAFWA to administer and enforce the Animal Welfare Act’s purpose of providing for the welfare, safety and health of animals. How does the Minister for Agriculture and Food, with the assistance of DAFWA, meet this responsibility? Well DAFWA provides the RSPCA(WA) with a $500,000 grant on the condition that the RSPCA(WA) provide a 24 hour, 7 day per week, telephone service and that it responds to all animal welfare complaints, with the exception of commercial livestock which must to be referred to DAFWA. Effectively, DAFWA has completely outsourced its responsibility for enforcing Part 3 of the Animal Welfare Act 2002 to the RSPCA(WA) for a grant of $500,000. In exchange for this grant, the RSPCA(WA) is fully responsible for all costs associated with operating the inspectorate. These costs include employing and training inspectors, providing and maintaining vehicles, office equipment such as computers, telephones, desks, chairs, stationary and consumables; cameras and recording equipment. The RSPCA(WA) is fully responsible for the costs of prosecuting offences under the Animal Welfare Act 2002. It is also fully responsible for providing veterinary and boarding care of all animals seized under the Animal Welfare Act until they can be dealt with under the Act. This list is by no means exhaustive, but it illustrates the financial burden that the Government has placed on the RSPCA(WA) in providing a service which is ultimately the responsibility of the Government.    In the 2012-2013 financial year it is estimated that these services cost in excess of $6 million, to which the Government only contributed $500,000. The RSPCA (WA) is required to utilise its public donations to make up the shortfall. These public donations could be otherwise spent on activities to prevent animal harm such as education, sterilization programs, training and public awareness. However these worthwhile activities must take a back seat whilst the Government takes advantage of the charities funds.   In 2012-2013 the Western Australian Government earned $25.477 billion in revenue. Of this, it provided $500,000 (0.00196%) to enforcing Part 3 of the Animal Welfare Act. In 2012-2013 DAFWA budgeted $1.3 million to Animal Welfare.  DAFWA employed 13 inspectors who conducted 131 investigations with no prosecutions. In 2012-2013 the RSPCA(WA) in return for a $500,000 Government grant, employed 15 inspectors. It took over 20,000 calls from the public and conducted over 6000 investigations with resulted in 23 prosecutions all of which were successful. This shows that DAFWA totally relies upon the RSPCA(WA) to enforce the Animal Welfare Act, and that DAFWA itself, is not very active in this area. Currently, due to a lack of funding, there are no RSPCA(WA) inspectors based in Murchison, Pilbara or Kimberly regions, despite there being strong evidence that animal welfare issues are rampant in these areas. DAFWA has animal welfare inspectors in these areas but does not provide animal welfare services to these communities. As a result, many instances of animal abuse and neglect go unchallenged. DAFWA are aware of issues in the Kimberly, especially Broome, but have taken no action to provide funding to enable an RSPCA(WA) Inspector to be based there, despite their obvious reliance on the RSPCA(WA) to fulfil DAFWA’s duty and responsibility in administering the Act. This petition to the Parliament of Western Australia is to seek Government funding to enforce the Animal Welfare Act. The Government of Western Australia should fully fund the employment of RSPCA(WA) Inspectors in every region of Western Australia and associated costs in providing plant equipment and operating costs associated in enforcing Part 3 of the Animal Welfare Act.   HELP THOSE WITHOUT A VOICE - SIGN THIS PETITION NOW.