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A long-term adviser to the Tasmanian Government on animal welfare will quit his position over what he says is a "completely disappointing" lack of progress and deep-seated problems with the way it handles investigations.
It comes as the Government faces mounting pressure over a lack of information about what caused the death of 16 polo ponies in the back of a truck that crossed Bass Strait on the Spirit of Tasmania in January.
The driver of the truck was national polo identity Andrew Williams.
Principal Solicitor for the Melbourne-based Animal Law Institute, Malcolm Caulfield, wrote the first book on animal cruelty law in Australia and has sat on Tasmania's animal advisory board representing Animals Australia for more than a decade.
Dr Caulfield said while he understood investigations could be complex matters, "the Spirit of Tasmania isn't some rickety old ship that's transporting things across Bass Strait".
"So I presumed that we'd be hearing fairly quickly what was going on and what was needed to stop it happening again," he said.
"However as time as passed and we've heard nothing I've become increasingly concerned that there are underlying issues and problems relating to the enforcement of animal welfare law in Tasmania."
Dr Caulfield told the ABC, pony deaths aside, the committee had been routinely kept in the dark by the Department of Primary Industries on animal welfare cases.
Its recommendations are ignored and to continue to advise the Government would be "a waste of our time now", he said.
Dr Caulfield also accused the Government of actively interfering in the work of the RSPCA.
"I'm sorry to say that myself and Animals Australia, who I represent on the Animal Welfare Advisory Committee, have decided the lack of progress and the attitude of the department and the Minister has been so disappointing that we think there's little point continuing on the committee," Dr Caulfield said.
"We do that with regret because there have been very positive aspects in the committee in recent years ... it's been a very cooperative and positive environment and so that's why we're especially disappointed to say we think it's a bit of a waste of our time now."
The committee was established under Tasmania's Animal Welfare Act 1993 and is tasked with advising the Minister of Primary Industries on animal welfare issues, in particular legislation and community education.
It represents a cross-section of stakeholders, including farmers.
Senior government figure Jeremy Rockliff was recently replaced in the role of Primary Industries Minister by Sarah Courtney.
The committee's charter sets out that it be provided with "executive support by the Department of Primary Industries, Parks Water and the Environment".
Dr Caulfield said department resources had been "cut to the bone and beyond".
"I've had discussions with people, obviously confidentially with people in the department, who've indicated their frustration with the lack of leadership and will in relation to animal welfare," he said.
Dr Caulfield said the deaths of the polo ponies were not the first time animal welfare problems had been associated with shipping in Tasmania.
When the committee had asked the Minister and department for updates on various other issues including abattoir investigations, "the response has been completely disappointing".
Dr Caulfield also hit out at the charity role of the RSPCA, which he said was ill-equipped to uphold the law, and called for a independent animal welfare body in Tasmania.
"I think RSPCA Tasmania is to open to interference by the Tasmanian Government," he said.
"I've seen this before, in circumstances where the RSPCA is proposing to do something that doesn't suit the government, the government will quite overtly threaten them and threaten to pull their funding.
"Now that isn't known publicly, but I've certainly been privy to conversations where that's a possible interpretation.
"I'd rather see the enforcing body being entirely, as far as possible, independent of that sort of pressure."
Earlier this month the RSPCA's Chief Vet Andrew Byrne told the ABC he'd requested information from the Government about the pony deaths, and called for its release as soon as possible.
After being contacted by DPIPWE officials, Dr Byrne conceded the investigation could take years.
The department received the ponies' autopsy results in February but has maintained details are "necessarily confidential".
DPIPWE will not say if or when information will be made public, while the Minister has said she will not comment on the case, or her department's investigation.
It follows calls for more information on the status of other animal cruelty investigations, including an 18-month old probe into an abattoir at Gretna, and the year-long investigation of another meatworks, at Cressy in Tasmania's north.
"It makes me feel that both major political parties, left and right, Labor and Liberal, have missed the boat on this one, that they don't see this as an issue that's of concern to the public," Dr Caulfield said.
"They have failed to realise that this is something the public would like to see action on."
In a statement, the government said the Animal Welfare Advisory Committee played an "important role in providing advice".
"Minister Rockliff during his tenure had constructive discussions with the committee. Minister Courtney is committed to continuing the constructive relationship," a spokeswoman said.
The spokeswoman said the government had increased funding to the RSPCA inspectorate from $400,000 to $550,000 and its "formal arrangements" for responding to allegations of animal cruelty "work well."
It had also budgeted extra funds for livestock officers within Biosecurity Tasmania, the spokeswoman said.
Topics: animal-welfare, animals, sea-transport, veterinary-medicine, livestock-welfare, government-and-politics, state-parliament, tas, devonport-7310
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