2024 Dunstan By-Election

In January, former South Australian Premier and Liberal Leader Steven Marshall announced he will resign from Parliament this year.

When Steven Marshall officially resigns, this will trigger a by-election in the marginal inner-Adelaide seat of Dunstan.

This by-election provides a fantastic opportunity for the AJP to stand a candidate and be a voice for animals in SA.

Introducing our Dunstan By-Election Candidate, Frankie Bray

Frankie Bray is a practising lawyer and PhD candidate at the University of Adelaide Law School. She is a single mother to two daughters, a dog, a cat, and a steady rotation of foster puppies.

As well as her work with the Animal Justice Party, Frankie sits on the Law Society of South Australia Animal Law Committee and volunteers for a local animal rescue. She advocates for animal issues at every opportunity and is also vocal about issues facing women and minorities. 

Frankie is passionate about the issues facing animals in this country and feels strongly that, especially in this context, knowledge is power. She hopes to increase awareness of animal issues in the community, as the first step towards creating significant and lasting change.

In particular, Frankie is looking forward to the opportunity to keep pressure on the government in the wake of the inquiry into the governance of the greyhound racing industry in South Australia. Frankie authored the AJP submission to the inquiry from which 5 recommendations were adopted. She is also committed to keeping the plight of our native waterbirds on the governments radar despite the failure of the inquiry to recommend a ban on hunting these innocent creatures. 

By raising awareness and maintaining pressure on the government, Frankie believes that we can make real progress.

With a South Australian Member of Parliament, we would have significantly more power to influence and change legislation to reduce animal cruelty.

Securing a seat in the SA parliament would enable us to:

Ensure the Greyhound Racing Inquiry recommendations are implemented

AJP recommendations adopted in the 2023 Greyhound Racing Industry Inquiry Report was a positive outcome. When elected, we'll keep the pressure on to ensure the government implements and regulates these recommendations and sticks to its commitment to shut down the industry if they don't clean up their act in the next two years. Read our recommendations.

Keep Duck Shooting on the government's agenda

Each duck shooting season, thousands of ducks are wounded and killed. We were devastated by the SA Duck Shooting Inquiry's recommendation to not ban duck shooting. With an SA AJP MP, we can ensure duck shooting stays on the government's agenda.

Prioritise improving legislation to preserve our Wildlife

Local wildlife rely on us to protect them. Koalas and birds live amongst us, and their habitats are in constant threat of destruction. When elected, Frankie will prioritise preserving and expanding parks and open spaces for wildlife to live safely and for our future generations to enjoy.

Stop the Slaughter of Kangaroos

Every night, kangaroos are hunted down under the cover of darkness, terrorised, maimed, and slaughtered for the profit-driven commercial kangaroo killing industry. Kangaroos should be protected and not seen as resources or pests. If elected we'll priortise calling for an inquiry into the commercial slaughter of Kangaroos in SA. Learn more about our Kangaroo Campaign and sign the petition.

Increase sentences for perpetrators of animal cruelty

There are endless cases of animal cruelty where the perpetrator walks away with only a small fine, and minimal, if any, jail time. The animals are relying on us to protect them, and enforce appropriate sentences on those who hurt them.

Ensure the Government sticks to its promise to Ban Puppy Farms

In September 2022, the government announced a moratorium and “strong new rules we plan to implement later this year will ensure that puppy factories with hundreds of dogs are prohibited in our state.” It is now 2024 and nothing has changed. Puppies born in cruel puppy farms are being sold right now in pet shops and online trading websites across South Australia. Exposés have shown mother dogs imprisoned in puppy farms being held in a small, barren crate their entire life - never seeing sunlight, deprived of social interaction, and forced to have litter after litter. With Frankie elected, we can pressure the government to stick to its promise, and keep puppy farms on their agenda until the industrialised ‘factory farming’ of puppies is permanently shut down. Read more about puppy farms.

Hold the government accountable to update the Animal Welfare Act

In March 2023, the Animal Welfare Act 1985 (SA) was reviewed for the first time since 2007. The public consultation process was a fantastic opportunity to make our voices heard and provide a detailed list of recommendations. However, almost 12 months later, the government is still "considering" community feedback. With an SA AJP MP, we can hold the government accountable, ensuring the Act is updated to reflect community sentiment and increase animal protection. Read our recommendations.

We need all hands on deck!

By-Elections are tight time frames with only 6 weeks until election day on 23 March 2024. Can you help? We have lots of different tasks that need doing! Complete our volunteer form and we'll be in touch.

DOWNLOAD OUR HOW TO VOTE CARD

Can you chip in to cover some of the costs?

In SA, the Animal Justice Party is 100% volunteer run. We rely entirely on Membership fees and donations to run in elections. Your donation will enable us to pay for the Candidate registration fee, flyers, how-to-vote cards, corflutes, and advertising – costing us $5800.

The breakdown of this total cost is below. This is the minimum budget we'll need to run the election campaign. Raising above this amount means we can ramp up our campaign further, ensuring we connect with more constituents in the seat of Dunstan. The more constituents who know about the AJP, the more votes we'll receive. And the more votes we receive, the more power we have to protect animals.

Breakdown of election campaign costs:
How to Vote Cards - $1800
Flyers - $1300
Digital advertising - $700
Corflutes - $1000
Candidate Fee - $1000

Donation Information

Donations by individuals to registered political parties of up to $1500 p.a. may be tax-deductible. Donations to a registered political party accumulating to an amount greater than $5,576 in a reporting period must be declared to the Electoral Commission of South Australia (ECSA). Further information including donor forms can be found on the ECSA website. It is recommended that you seek independent financial advice on donations.

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