Does Animal Welfare Standards + Guidelines — Land Transport of Livestock apply to agriculture, forestry and fishing businesses?

Animal Welfare Standards + Guidelines — Land Transport of Livestock. The Australian Animal Welfare Standards and Guidelines for the Land Transport of Livestock, endorsed in September 2012, replaced the separate model codes for cattle, horses, pigs, poultry and road and rail transport. The Commonwealth develops the standards with the states and territories, and each state or territory implements them in its own law; in Queensland, for example, the transport code is compulsory and any person in charge of an animal has a duty of care under the Animal Care and Protection Act 2001 before, during and after transport.

Trigger: Mustering, selecting, loading, carrying or receiving livestock for transport by road or rail.

Rules Mate runs its applicability engine across 9 business structures and 6 size bands for each of the 35 industries it maps. For 33 of those industries the answer for "Animal Welfare Standards + Guidelines — Land Transport of Livestock" is no. Agriculture, forestry & fishing is one of the 2 where the answer is different: only if.

The deciding fact for agriculture, forestry and fishing businesses: Industry: Agriculture, forestry & fishing; applies only if you transport, consign or receive livestock.

About the industry: Primary producers covered by the Pastoral Award and biosecurity / chemical use regulation.

Compare a professional services (general) business with 6–19 employees structured as a Pty Ltd company: the obligation does not apply (Requires a trigger outside this questionnaire).

Each cell is the engine's outcome for a business in agriculture, forestry & fishing with that structure and size, assuming it sells to consumers and small businesses and holds customer contact details. "Check" means the obligation turns on a fact the industry does not settle.

When due

Before loading (fitness for the intended journey, holding periods, feed and water), throughout the journey (inspections, loading density, maximum time off water and minimum spell periods) and on arrival (care after unloading). Journeys longer than 24 hours need records showing when the livestock had access to water.

Evidence to keep

Records of fitness-for-journey selection and withdrawals; water access records for journeys over 24 hours; loading density assessments for each crate or container; journey inspection and spelling records; feeding records for cattle spelled in saleyards or transit centres; fatigue management records under the heavy vehicle chain of responsibility.

Maximum penalty

Breaches are enforced under each state or territory's animal welfare law, which gives the standards legal effect (for example, the duty of care under Queensland's Animal Care and Protection Act 2001), and fatigue breaches under the Heavy Vehicle National Law chain-of-responsibility provisions

Regulator

See source

Jurisdiction

Commonwealth (national)

• EPBC Act — assess + approve controlled actions affecting MNES: Only if
• Food and Grocery Code of Conduct (now mandatory): Only if
• Maintain Hazardous Chemicals Register + manifest (WHS Reg): Yes
• Notify + remediate contaminated land (state): Only if
• On-farm biosecurity record-keeping + reporting: Yes
• Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs): Only if
• All 15 answers for agriculture, forestry & fishing