Despite a tiny budget, but with of plenty of passion, the Animal Justice Party won its first parliamentary seat by gaining the last seat in the Legislative Council election in New South Wales today. At the preference distribution count today the AJP ended up an easy winner for the final seat ahead of the No Land Tax Party and the Liberal Party.
This is a historic result; as Party President and Founder Professor Steve Garlick said: “This is the first time in Australia that animals will be represented at a parliamentary level. We know that more than 80 percent of all decisions made in Australian parliaments impact on the lives of animals and its about time they had a voice representing their interests”.
Elected AJP candidate Mark Pearson will take up his position in the NSW upper house in July and will have much to say about how the lives of farm, domestic and wild animals in NSW can be improved. Being the Executive Director of NSW Animal Liberation, Mark comes to this parliamentary role with considerable commitment and knowledge about how to stop animal cruelty.
Apart from supporting Mark in his new role in the Parliament of NSW, the Party will now set its sights on a number of elections in 2016 where it hopes to emulate its success and where it will target government supported extreme animal brutality.
