NSW Minister for Agriculture Tara Moriarty explains the new animal welfare amendments to the Legislative Council.

NEW South Wales sheep producers could risk fines of more than $80,000 if they mules sheep without approved pain relief, under a bill tabled in the state’s Legislative Council yesterday.

Under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Enforcement and Operational Powers) Bill 2026, pain relief will be mandatory when mulesing sheep of any age in New South Wales.

The move by Australia’s biggest sheep state has been welcomed by peak and wool industry groups, but has disappointed animal welfare groups seeking the phaseout of mulesing – the surgical removal of excess skin around the breech/tail to minimise flystrike risk.

It follows similar initiatives in most other Australia states. Victoria mandated pain relief for mulesing in 2020, Tasmania regulated the practice in 2024, and the Western Australian Government confirmed in November 2025 it would mandate pain relief under WA Animal Welfare Act 2002 regulations. If the NSW bill is passed, Queensland and South Australia will be the only states that have not committed to mandatory pain relief for mulesing. SA state farming organisation Livestock SA supports mandating pain relief for mulesing, and claimed last year that the SA Government had verbally committed to supporting our policy position and including it in the new Animal Welfare Regulations.

Schedule 1[19] in the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Enforcement and Operational Powers) Bill 2026 tabled by NSW Minister for Agriculture Tara Moriarty makes it an offence for a person to perform the mules operation on a sheep unless a pain relief product is administered.

Schedule 1[26] in the bill provides the defence of performing the mules operation on a sheep less than 12 months of age in a way that inflicts no unnecessary pain on the sheep does not apply to the new offence. The current Act’s Schedule 23B(1)(a)(v)(v) stipulates that a person is not guilty of an offence if the person satisfies the court that “the act or omission in respect of a sheep of less than 12 months of age—in the course of, and for the purpose of, performing the Mules operation upon the animal, in a manner that inflicted no unnecessary pain upon the animal.”

The new bill stipulates that a person must not perform the mules operation on a sheep unless the sheep is administered with a pain relief product registered with the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) for use on sheep, or prescribed for use on the sheep for the mules operation by a veterinary practitioner. The pain relief product must be used consistent with APVMA label directions and permit conditions, or the directions of the veterinary practitioner.

The maximum penalty for an individual is 150 penalty units or imprisonment for six months, or both, or otherwise, 750 penalty units, with each unit equating to a fine of $110.

The Minns Government said it has moved to address animal welfare and potential trade issues regarding sheep mulesing. While pain relief for mulesing is voluntarily occurring across most of the industry, the bill makes it mandatory across the sector, the government said.

Minister Moriarty told parliament mulesing is an established practice in the wool industry, but is a painful process and should be carried out humanely.

She said the requirement for pain relief in the bill “reflects the good work that industry is already doing.”

“Recent surveys indicate that almost all New South Wales wool industry participants are using pain relief when mulesing.

“Suitable products are already registered and available for use by producers,” she said.

“In other words, the majority of industry is already doing this and the bill clarifies that it is the law to do so.”

However, the bill has not stipulated that the pain relief be according to ‘best practices as recommended by the NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development and as concluded in CSIRO research funded by industry.

A NSW DPIRD page on lamb marking https://www.nsw.gov.au/regional-and-primary-industries/livestock/sheep/lamb-marking contains the following recommendation on pain relief:

Best-practice lamb marking would be to give both a systemic anti-inflammatory and local anaesthetic. Ideally a combination of a product containing short acting pain relief provided by lignocaine would be combined with the long-acting pain relief of meloxicam.

DPIRD defends no requirement for ‘best practice’ pain relief

A NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development spokesperson said the NSW Government is  responding to industry and strong public support for animal welfare law reforms to update the legislation which is more than 45 years old.

“The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Enforcement and Operational Powers) Bill 2026 is proposing to mandate pain relief for mulesing in a meaningful and practical manner.

“Representations from both sheep and wool industry advised government that they supported such moves and that a large section of the industry were already undertaking this activity, the spokesperson said.

“The Bill ensures the procedure is carried out humanely while also allowing flexibility in how appropriate pain relief is administered.

“The pain relief product is not specified, but it must be registered with Australian Pesticides and VeterinaryMedicines Authority (APVMA) for use on sheep or prescribed for use on the sheep for the Mules operation by a veterinary practitioner.”

The spokesperson said the pain relief product must also be used consistently with the APVMA label directions and permit conditions or the directions of the veterinary practitioner

“POCTAA currently permits undertaking the mules operation on a sheep via a defence set out in s23B of the Act.

“This defence provides that it is not an offence to perform the mules operation on a sheep if it is less than 12 months of age and the procedure was performed in a way that inflicted no unnecessary pain upon the animal.”

The spokesperson said the purpose of the proposed new Schedule 1[26] is to make clear that the defence for mulesing a sheep less than 12 months of age in s23B does not apply if a person does not meet the new pain relief requirements proposed in Schedule 1[19].

“In doing so, this ensures a person could not avoid the requirement to use pain relief, by performing the procedure in a way that they believe inflicts no unnecessary pain on the animal.

“This approach to mandating pain relief is consistent with other jurisdictions in Australia that require pain relief for mulesing.”

WoolProducers welcomes NSW move

WoolProducers Australia chief executive officer Jo Hall said the peak grower body welcomed the requirement for mandatory pain relief for mulesing under the new bill and congratulated the NSW government in finally doing so.

“WoolProducers strongly believes that all states need to mandate pain relief for mulesing.”

Ms Hall said WoolProducers were consulted on the issue and made it clear that it has been calling for governments to implement its 2018 decision to require mandatory pain relief for mulesing.

“The wording of this requirement mirrors WoolProducers’ long-held policy position and therefore we believe that this requirement is adequate.

“Given that the voluntary adoption rate of pain relief for mulesing sits around 90 percent, which is reflective of the prioritisation of which wool growers give to animal welfare, this change will only impact the remaining 10pc of producers who currently don’t use pain relief for mulesing.”

Ms Hall said WoolProducers acknowledges the importance of undertaking husbandry procedures according to best practice while continually working to reduce, refine and replace these practices in response to research, development and regulatory outcomes.

“This includes the administration of products that minimise the severity and duration of pain when undertaking mulesing, tail docking and castration.

“However, given best practice is a process of continual improvement, it is not common practice to enshrine in regulation or legislation what may be thought of as ‘best practice’ of the day as it is more appropriate to regulate minimum standards or baselines,” she said.

Industry has best practice pain relief frameworks – SPA

Sheep Producers Australia CEO Bonnie Skinner said the proposed changes are broadly consistent with the body’s existing animal welfare policy, that supports the use of pain relief for mulesing and encourages sheep producers to phase out mulesing as soon as practical.

“SPA policy also states that prime lambs should not be mulesed.

“In relation to prescribing specific products in legislation, SPA’s view is that legislation should generally prescribe outcomes rather than individual commercial products, while allowing flexibility for practices to continue evolving alongside science, technology and producer adoption.”

Ms Skinner said industry organisations have developed best practice frameworks, producer communication and extension programs to support the use of appropriate pain relief for mulesing.

“Continued producer engagement and education will remain important to support awareness and uptake across the industry.”

Animal welfare sought multi-modal pain relief

Alliance for Animals director, policy and government relations, Dr Jed Goodfellow said multiple animal welfare groups called for the amendments to require multi-modal pain relief for mulesing.

“This was not taken up by the government so we are certainly disappointed.”

He said the Humane World’s submission to DPIRD consultation on the bill also included a call to move away from mulesing entirely.

Humane World’s submission said it welcomed the introduction of requirements for producers to provide suitable pain relief when mulesing (live lamb cutting).

“However, we strongly recommend the provision prescribes a requirement for multi-model pain relief applied pre and post-cut.

“Most wool farmers only administer topical anaesthesia and/or analgesia after the procedure, meaning lamb’s experience the full pain of each cut and the duration of the post-cut pain relief is inadequate for the duration of the pain,” Humane World said.

“There are currently no pain relief options that meet the level and duration of pain caused by mulesing, but the combination of analgesia and anaesthetic (multi-modal pain management) would provide them with some additional protection, albeit still insufficient.”

Humane World said the most effective and profitable solution to mitigate blowflies and avoid live lamb cutting is for wool farmers to transition to breed plain-bodied flystrike-resistant Merinos. It strongly recommended the NSW Government regulate against the breeding of sheep that are prone to flystrike and to legislate a phase-out of mulesing (live lamb cutting) in the POCTA Act or Regulations, and an immediate mandatory requirement to provide multi-modal ‘best practice’ pain relief during the transition.

The Minns Government said the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Enforcement and Operational Powers) Bill 2026 will modernise enforcement powers to ensure NSW’s animal welfare laws reflect community expectations by increasing the level of penalties, introducing new offences for unacceptable behaviours and strengthening existing protections.

The bill will also make it illegal to leave a dog unattended in a vehicle without adequate cooling or ventilation for more than 10 minutes when it is over 28°C outside, or to restrain a dog on a hot metal ute tray when it is over 28°C outside. Fines of up to $44,000 will apply.

The bill will also allow inspectors to administer sedation and pain relief to minimise an animal’s immediate suffering until veterinary treatment can be sought

The Minns Government said it undertook comprehensive engagement with stakeholders such as RSPCA NSW, Animal Welfare League, Australian Alliance for Animals, Animal Care Australia, Humane World for Animals, NSW Farmers, Sheep Producers Australia, and Australian Veterinary Association.

Nearly 7,000 submissions from community and stakeholder groups collated through previous NSW Government consultations and parliamentary inquiries have been considered in these changes.