This is our last chance. Email your MP today.

Tell your Lower House MP it's time to introduce the Animal Care and Protection Bill.

Millie was a Maltese Shih Tzu who strayed onto a neighbour’s property in December 2024. CCTV footage later showed what happened next: she was trapped and struck with a pole at least 16 times, then killed, her body driven off and dumped by the man responsible. Her case sparked outrage across the state, with thousands watching a magistrate ultimately describe the attack as "sustained, vicious, deliberate and callous."

Around the same time, a property in Mt Eliza was quietly starving dozens of horses to the point of emaciation, while locals begged authorities to step in. Some of the horses didn’t survive long enough for help to arrive.

Then there’s Trump the corgi, left for months on a Melbourne apartment balcony, standing in his own waste with no real shade or water – until public outrage finally forced someone to act.

What connects all three? Each happened under the same outdated rulebook – a piece of Victorian law that’s now 40 years old.

The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1986 simply wasn’t built for this. Under it, neglect, starvation and basic care failures are nearly impossible to act on until an animal is already suffering severely – and the penalties for people who cause that suffering remain among the weakest anywhere in the country.

A decade ago, the government promised to fix this. Years of relentless campaigning got the replacement – the Animal Care and Protection Bill – all the way to a finished draft. Then, earlier this year, former Premier Jacinta Allan shelved it without fanfare.

The Bill exists. It’s finished, and has been for years. It’s sitting on the Premier’s desk gathering dust, while the current broken framework lets animals keep suffering in real time.

What the Bill would actually deliver:

• Legal recognition that animals are sentient, backed by minimum standards of care they’re entitled to.

• Power for authorities to step in before suffering becomes severe – exactly the power that could have spared the Mt Eliza horses.

• Real penalties for cruelty, so someone who does what was done to Millie can no longer get away with next to nothing.

• An end to the loopholes that let puppy farms keep operating across Victoria.

Here’s why we think this moment is different: last week, the Animal Justice Party brought a petition on this exact Bill to a debate in Parliament. For once, the answer wasn’t an outright "no." That’s a real shift from former Premier Jacinta Allan, who was blunt about this legislation being "not a priority." Under new leadership, the door on this reform is open wider than it has been in years.

The window to act is narrow – and closing.

Every message adds to the pressure in these final sitting weeks. Thank you for taking action – and if you can, please share this page with someone else in Victoria so their MP hears from them too.