Australian Greens Animal Welfare Spokesperson, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, has welcomed National Australia Bank’s release of their Animal Welfare Principles as an important step forward in corporations acknowledging their responsibility to protect animals. She has said that banks need to go even further to protect animals.
“National Australia Bank’s release of these principles is an important step toward banks beginning to acknowledge the huge impact their lending practices have on animals. Other banks should immediately get on board.
“While I welcome NAB’s initiative in establishing animal welfare principles, we need banks to go further. Any business involved in morally suspect industries like greyhound and horse racing, factory farming and live exports are complicit in animal abuse. We need all banks to bring their lending standards in line with the community expectation that all animals will be protected and treated as sentient beings.
“More and more Australians are deeply concerned about the way animals are treated. We cannot rely on corporations to take voluntary action. The Government must take leadership and enact the Greens’ plan for national animal cruelty laws, end factory farming and outlaw the cruel greyhound racing industry,” she concluded.