Recognising the work of Blacktown Animal Rehoming Centre (BARC)

Today in Parliament, Abigail spoke about the importance of animal rehoming services that take in lost, stray and abandoned animals and rehome them to loving fur-ever homes, in the midst of the current pound crisis we are facing.

(1) That this House notes that:

(a) the Blacktown Animal Rehoming Centre [BARC] is the first custom-built rehoming centre in Australia designed to supply services not previously offered by traditional animal "pounds";

(b) the centre was opened in May 2023 and is specially designed to provide each animal the maximum opportunity to be rehabilitated and adopted back out to the community, reducing holding times, increasing adoptions and decreasing euthanasia rates;

(d) the centre is the largest facility of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere currently providing housing for 135 dogs and 230 cats.

(2) That this House further notes that:

(a) thousands of animals across New South Wales are in need of loving homes with pounds and shelters overwhelmed with displaced animals and increased surrender waitlists exacerbated by the cost-of-living crisis and inadequate rental laws;

(b) council pounds remain under-resourced and under-regulated and often fail to meet basic animal welfare standards; and

(c) according to the issues paper into Rehoming Companion Animals in NSW prepared by the Centre for International Economics for the Office of Local Government, in 2020-21 one in 10 dogs and one in three cats who enter these council pounds in New South Wales were being killed for reasons other than illness or injury.

(3) That this House:

(a) thanks all those involved in the development and operation of BARC and all those actively contributing to animal rehoming efforts across New South Wales;

(b) recognises the pressures being faced by council pounds, animal shelters and rescue organisations across our State; and

Read the full transcript in Hansard here.

TAX SUPERPROFITS TO PAY WORKERS MORE

NSW is missing out on tens of billions of dollars. By introducing a progressive coal royalty structure similar to the one in Queensland, we would have raised an extra $20 billion last year.

The NSW Government owns and controls, on behalf of the people of this state, the rights to the minerals and materials that naturally occur in NSW land.

Huge fossil fuel companies are only able to extract and sell these commodities with the consent of the State. It’s time they paid a fair price for that privilege.

The fossil fuel industry has made hundreds of billions of dollars out of their cosy relationship with governments. Granted permission to extract and sell coal, these large multinational fossil fuel corporations pay just over 7% in royalties back to the people of NSW – keeping the rest as mega-profits for themselves. These companies have a track record of taking more than their fair share and leaving communities suffering and stranded with poisoned groundwater, devastated landscapes and a stranded workforce when it suits their business models.

Globally, the hyper-inflation of fossil fuel prices driven by price-gouging opportunism and war profiteering from Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has delivered record windfall profits to these already obscenely wealthy corporations. In the last year, NSW coal exports totaled over $70 billion dollars, but the people of NSW will only see about 7 cents in every dollar, or about $6 billion dollars of that amount.

Rather than going toward schools, hospitals and public infrastructure, billions of dollars went into the pockets of multinational mining corporations. The Greens believe there should be more money for schools and hospitals and less for mining billionaires.

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Recognising the work of Blacktown Animal Rehoming Centre (BARC)

TAX SUPERPROFITS TO PAY WORKERS MORE

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