TRANSCRIPT 

Newsreader: Greens MLA Deb Foskey has climbed into a human battery cage outside the Assembly as part of a campaign to ban cage egg production in Canberra.  A bill to change the ACT Animal Welfare Act has been tabled but has so far failed to get the support of her colleagues.

Reporter: One hundred per cent of commercial egg production in Canberra is caged.  Deb Foskey’s visual stunt is a way of talking turkey in a bid to stop the caged egg production of a quarter of a million hens.

Deb Foskey, Greens MLA: It doesn’t mean we have to give away these jobs.  What it means is Pace needs to do in the ACT what it’s doing elsewhere in Australia and produce eggs either by free range or barn methods.

Reporter: The ACT government currently seeking legal advice before it takes a vote to ban caged production.  The concern, Parkwood Eggs, run by Pace, will simply go over the border to Queanbeyan.

Jon Stanhope, Chief Minister: It’s a significant industry, a significant employer.  It’s the ACT’s largest agricultural producer.  It’s interesting that money’s not everything and the economy’s not everything, but it’s very important.

Reporter: The last time animal liberationists stormed Canberra’s only commercial egg production centre at Parkwood was way back in 1999.  Today their message and claims of cruelty at the centre remains the same.

Shane Dalgleish, Human Battery Cage: It’s a fairly simple change.  It’s only going to affect one facility.  That facility needs to close – it is absolutely appalling.

Reporter: The Greens Bill will be raised again in the Assembly for discussion tomorrow.