Australia 2024 – Western Australia animal welfare regulations – battery cage ban
Law & Regulation
Enacted – Pending Effect
December 11, 2024
Summary
The Animal Welfare (Poultry) Regulations 2024 (SL 2024/266), made under the Western Australian Animal Welfare Act 2002 and published on 11 December 2024, prohibit the installation of new battery cages for layer hens in Western Australia from commencement and schedule the phase-out of existing battery cages from 2032. The Regulations adopt the first stage of the Australian Animal Welfare Standards and Guidelines for Poultry, endorsed nationally in July 2023, giving those standards legal force in Western Australia. Additional standards — including requirements for perches, abrasive claw-shortening devices, and scratchable flooring — commenced on 1 July 2025. Non-compliance with prescribed cage standards is subject to a penalty of up to AUD 15,000.
Background Context
Before the 2024 Regulations, poultry in Western Australia was governed by the Animal Welfare Act 2002 and an associated Code of Practice for Poultry, which provided non-regulatory guidance rather than binding standards. The national process to develop updated Australian Animal Welfare Standards and Guidelines for Poultry began in 2015 and included a public consultation in 2018 that attracted approximately 170,000 submissions. On 13 July 2023, all Australian Agriculture Ministers endorsed the national Poultry Standards, including a framework for phasing out conventional battery cages between 2032 and 2036. Western Australia’s Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) committed to implementing the Standards in two stages, releasing draft Stage 1 Regulations for public consultation on 23 September 2024. The Australian Capital Territory had previously prohibited battery cage use, and Western Australia’s December 2024 Regulations made it the first Australian state to legislate the nationally agreed phase-out.
System Impact
Direction
Neutral / Administrative
Type
Modifies Conditions
Significance
Low
From commencement in December 2024, the Regulations make installation of new battery cages for layer hens unlawful in Western Australia, constraining future capital investment in conventional cage infrastructure in the state. Interim cage standards — requiring perches, abrasive claw-shortening devices, and scratchable flooring for existing commercial cage systems — commenced on 1 July 2025, applying to cages in operation during the transition period. Existing battery cages are permitted to continue operating subject to compliance with interim standards, with penalties of up to AUD 15,000 enforceable by DPIRD authorised officers. The number of hens in battery cage systems in Western Australia is not documented as having changed as a result of the Regulations’ commencement.
Anticipated Effects
If implemented as written, the phase-out schedule would require all existing battery cage systems in Western Australia to cease operation from 2032, within the national 2032–2036 phase-out window.
If implemented as written, commercial egg producers currently using battery cages in Western Australia would be required to transition to alternative housing systems — barn, aviary, or free-range — or exit cage egg production in the state, subject to market demand and infrastructure availability at the time.
Whether the phase-out, if implemented, would reduce the number of hens bred into exploitation systems in Western Australia or primarily shift housing configurations within a continuing egg production system is not established in available sources and would depend on market conditions and producer decisions at the time of phase-out.
Significance Rationale
Assigned Neutral / Administrative (impact direction) because the Regulations alter the conditions under which cage egg production operates in Western Australia — prohibiting new cage installations and scheduling an existing cage phase-out — but the egg production system continues at comparable scale during the transition period, and the number of hens in battery cage systems is not reduced at the point of commencement.
Assigned Modifies Conditions (impact type) because the instrument changes the terms under which cage egg production must operate — cage design requirements, a new installation ban, and a phase-out schedule — without removing the legal basis for egg production or contracting the system.
Assigned Low significance because the Regulations operate within a single Australian state that holds a minority share of the national caged layer flock; the primary phase-out effect does not commence until 2032; and no reduction in the number of hens in battery cage systems in Western Australia is documented at the point of this record.
Within The System
Key Actors
The Western Australian Government, acting through the Governor in Executive Council under the Animal Welfare Act 2002, made the Animal Welfare (Poultry) Regulations 2024. The Cook Labor Government, led by Premier Roger Cook, announced the Regulations on 13 December 2024, characterising Western Australia as the first state to legislate the nationally agreed battery cage phase-out. The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) led development of the Regulations, conducted the Stage 1 public consultation in September–October 2024, and is responsible for implementation support and enforcement through authorised officers. Commercial egg producers and other poultry operators in Western Australia are the primary regulated parties. RSPCA Australia and the Australian Alliance for Animals publicly documented the Regulations as the first state-level implementation of the nationally agreed battery cage phase-out.
Editorial Correction Notice
Development date: The date of 11 December 2024 is the publication date of the Regulations on the Western Australian legislation website (legislation.wa.gov.au). The Regulations’ precise commencement date and the commencement dates of individual provisions should be verified against the commencement clauses in the full instrument text. The government media statement is dated 13 December 2024, suggesting the public announcement followed the legislative publication by two days.
Anticipated Effects: The exact final phase-out year for existing battery cages in Western Australia — whether 2032, 2036, or a date within that range — is not fully resolved in the media summaries consulted. Consultation of the schedules in the full Animal Welfare (Poultry) Regulations 2024 text would confirm the precise phase-out endpoint.
Scale & Prevalence: No Western Australia-specific figures for the number of commercial egg producers using battery cages, or the number of layer hens in battery cage systems in the state, were identified in available sources. National figures (approximately 5 million layer hens in battery cages, approximately 40% of egg supply) are advocacy organisation estimates. New South Wales is identified as holding approximately 33% of the national caged layer flock, implying Western Australia’s share is smaller, but a precise WA figure would require consultation of DPIRD agricultural census data or the Western Australian Egg Industry Association.
Key Actors: No individual commercial egg producers or companies operating battery cage systems in Western Australia are named in the primary or secondary sources consulted.
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