Animals, Equality and Democracy

Share:

Listens: 0

Thinking Justice

News & Politics


In this episode of Thinking Justice, Siobhan O’Sullivan uses liberal democratic principles to argue for better visibility, transparency and justice for animals. In light of the recent election of the Animal Justice Party to NSW and Victorian Legislative Councils, we consider the opportunities for animal advocates in Parliament. Siobhan argues that in Australia, the same species of animal will experience different levels of protection or suffering depending on whether they are ‘out of sight, out of mind’. We talk through key issues on the animal rights agenda, including the push towards recognising animals to have legal personhood (rather than property status), affording them a right to protections such as bodily liberty. We also cover some of the challenges in the movement for animal liberation, including the emergence of ‘ag-gag’ laws, which seek to prevent whistle-blowers from exposing cruelty in agricultural industries by prohibiting undercover filming, and the inconsistent definitions of terms like ‘free range’, ‘organic’ or ‘grain-fed’ in labelling practices across jurisdictions.