Animal Welfare

Lee holds the animal welfare portfolio due to her lifelong passion for furthering animal rights. She has campaigned against piggeries, kangaroo chillers, retiring circus elephants, banning duck hunting and hunting in state forests.

Animal deaths: calls to investigate Eastern Star Gas Co

Greens MP and mining spokesperson Lee Rhiannon is calling for a thorough investigation of possible beaches of Eastern Star's exploration license, following reports of more wildlife deaths at its poorly fenced toxic waste ponds on the company's drill sites near Narrabri in North Western NSW last weekend (page 2, 'Wildlife fallen through the gaps', Northern Daily Leader today).

Tasmanian forests – World Heritage plan to stop the clear felling

A short visit to the South Weld Forests in the Tasmanian World Heritage Area revealed both their magnificence and the extreme danger posed to them posed by wood-chipping, and even shooting.

Kangaroo slaughter for Bathurst 1000 puts car race before animal welfare

Greens MP and animal welfare spokesperson Lee Rhiannon today strongly criticised the shooting of Eastern Grey kangaroos at the Bathurst 1000 Mount Panorama race site in preparation for the upcoming car race event. (SMH, 2 October 2009, page 3)

Abolish the Game Council

Greens MP Lee Rhiannon gave the following address at the 'Hunting in National Parks' public meeting held at Ku-ring-gai Town Hall on Tuesday 25 August 2009.

FOI search – zoo mislead public on blackbuck sale to Shooters Party member

Documents obtained by the Greens under FOI reveal that Taronga Western Plains Zoo did not carry out the safeguards it claimed to have followed when endangered blackbucks were sold to a member of the Shooters Party, Greens MP and animal welfare spokesperson Lee Rhiannon said today. (SMH, page 1, 31 August 2009)

Mandatory egg labelling must be hatched in NSW

Greens MP and animal welfare spokesperson Lee Rhiannon said today Woolworths' move to promote the sale of more humanely produced eggs is a positive step. She called on the NSW government to introduce mandatory labelling legislation to ensure consumers can be sure of exactly what they are buying ('Eggs in One Basket', Daily Telegraph, p. 1).

Minister must stop endangered animal sales to backer of safari parks for hunters

Thursday, 06 August 2009 Commenting on the sale of endangered antelope by Dubbo Zoo to a member of the Shooters Party Greens MP and animal welfare spokesperson Lee Rhiannon said the transaction should never have been allowed and has called for the NSW Environment Minister Carmel Tebbutt to overhaul what NSW zoos do with excess animals.

8,000 animals killed - urgent govt action needed

Greens MP and animal welfare spokesperson Lee Rhiannon has called on the NSW government to urgently revise the management of animal experimentation following the release of the Animal Research Review Panel report detailing the death of more than 8,000 animals. (Daily Telegraph, 3 July 2009, page 1)

A mind stimulation from Minding Animals

The Minding Animals Conference was one of those events that underlined the enormous shift in community attitudes. The conference went far beyond animal welfare issues. Conference Co-convenors, Rod Bennison and Jill Bough, pulled off something quite special.

New Shooters Party Bill allows hunting in national parks and private game reserves

Greens MP Lee Rhiannon has called on the Environment Minister Carmel Tebbutt to reject outright a new bill from the Shooters Party that paves the way for hunting in national parks, private game reserves, the hunting of native species and the growth of recreational shooting on public and private lands (Sydney Morning Herald, page 6, 12 June 2009).