This is an amendment to delay the coming into force of the bill from 18 months after receiving royal assent to five years.
Many stakeholders have told us how long it was going to take to have this.... If this does come into effect, they told us about the effects it can have on their livelihood, given the gestation period of horses and animal health consequences, and the fact that it will destroy people's livelihoods, forcing them to find other means to make a living, which could include retraining in other education for themselves.
When the stakeholders who actually raise these horses were here, no questions were asked of them by any of the opposition parties. I think it is incumbent upon us to think about the people who have put their heart and soul into raising these animals. It is their livelihood. It is part of their past and their present, but obviously it is not in their future if this bill does come into force. I think delaying this so that we give the proper amount of time for people to figure out how it's going to affect their lives from here on would be compassionate and something that this committee should take seriously. It's going to affect the lives of lots of people, and we should give them time to rebuild those lives.