It has been 26 years since the rights of animals have been recognised across Australia and beyond.

Intentionally aligned with International Human Rights Day –  every year, the 10th of December is a unifying occasion for all animal rights activists where positive animal welfare, governance, and treatment are celebrated, campaigned, and advocated for through shining light on the simple question of, “If people share fundamental human rights, shouldn’t animals share them, too?”. 

“It’s really about setting up a bit of a platform for having a national discussion about the way we treat animals in our society”, says co-founder and the Policy and Government Relations Director of the Australian Alliance for Animals, Dr Jed Goodfellow. 

However, despite Australia slipping down in the ranks to a ‘D’ in 2020 according to the Animal Protection Index, Goodfellow’s Alliance is working to change that by pushing their key campaign #FairGoForAnimals for proper representation of animals at a government level.

“The problem…laws is that they don’t apply to the vast majority of the animals we use in society. Particularly animals that fall within different industrial settings they’re largely excluded”, he says.

“That’s what the Alliance is seeking to change…we’re seeking to set up more independent frameworks for making these big animal welfare policy decisions that affect the lives of so many animals”.

Taking their activism to the next level, the Alliance effectively coordinated a joint letter to the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Christopher Luxon, to fight against the potentially dangerous move to export live animals across seas.

“We’re landing a hand to those friends in New Zealand to try and push back against this regressive move by the government there”, says Goodfellow.

In the efforts to hopefully bring Australia back up to par with top-ranked countries such as Switzerland, Sweden and Austria when it comes to animal welfare – there are still a variety of productive actions everyone can take as both citizens and consumers on an everyday basis, such as reflecting and asking questions; to reduce the unnoticed damage to animals that may be occurring behind the scenes.

For instance, reflecting on animal-based products consumed and researching their production through proactively asking retailers, food businesses and supermarkets about their animal welfare policies. On a ‘citizen’ perspective, pure advocacy makes a stronger mark than most think.

“Everybody listening has a State and Federal member of parliament. Get in touch with them, send them an email express your concerns about animal welfare.”, says Goodfellow.

And if people find themselves confused about how to actually advocate and voice their opinions to bring animal rights in line with, or even above their own; Goodfellow’s Alliance is the best place to be.

“You can find great resources on our website at allianceforanimals.org.au…We’ve got a great political toolkit there and it takes you right through, step-by-step [on] how to engage with your parliamentary representatives”.

Australia may have quite a few things to work on, but they are definitely being worked upon by leading organisations like the Alliance for Animals –and hopefully, by the 27th year, the nation will see an improved status of its treatment of animals.