Draft Policies out for Member Comment

Policies developed by AVA’s Policy Council form the basis of AVA’s advocacy submissions and public statements, to advance issues of importance to the profession. They also provide technical and scientific guidance to support the profession. 

As a member you have the ability to influence these policies to ensure they represent the collective view – so please provide your feedback by 13 February.

Access the following drafts here (REMEMBER TO LOG IN FIRST):

• Animal Welfare
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
• Enrichment for commercially raised pigs
• Mulesing
• Pig housing to enhance the health and welfare of all classes of pigs
• Safe and humane on-farm euthanasia of pigs
• Veterinary Student Extramural Work-Integrated Learning (Clinical Placements)

Policy Council Work Summary for 2025

The following policies were developed by PAC and ratified by the AVA Board in 2025:

• Farming of native fauna (Jan 2025, update)
• Infection prevention and control in veterinary workplaces (Jan 2025, pdate)

• Sustainability: implications for animal production, companion animals and veterinary practice (Jan 2025, new)

• The veterinarian’s role in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community dog and cat health and management programs (Jan 2025, update)
• Exotic pet and wildlife trade (July 2025, new)
• Forced Swim Test and Forced Smoke Inhalation Experiments (July 2025, new)
• Medication of dogs and cats for air transport (July 2025, update)
• Post-racing transition and retraining: Ensuring effective aftercare for retired horses (July 2025, new)
• HPAI in pet birds, backyard poultry and wild birds (Nov 2025, new)
• Branding of cattle - use of analgesia (Dec 2025, update)
• Cyberbullying (Dec 2025, new)
• Use of anthelmintics in equine practice (Dec 2025, new)
• Use of electroimmobilisation on animals (Dec 2025, update)
• Use of female cattle in training programs for trans-rectal pregnancy testing and artificial insemination (Dec 2025, update)

‘Contextualised Veterinary Care’ and ‘Enhancing veterinary care through veterinary social services’ policies are undergoing some further wordsmithing for ratification out-of-session.

In all, a total of 16 drafts were finalised for ratification, and 7 drafts progressed to member comment stage in 2025.  Sincere thanks to the 23 working groups involved in this work!