Canberra’s cage egg facility, Pace Farm, pays the ACT Government only $486 a year for its lease of a 40ha
property in Belconnen, less than many Canberrans pay in rent a week.
The revelation comes as the ACT Legislative Assembly last night passed a scrambled version of the Greens’ proposed changes to Canberra’s egg production and retail
legislation, rejecting an outright ban on battery hen farms but endorsing watered-down labelling requirements for retailers.
Greens MLA Caroline Le Couteur, whose Bill had originally provided for a ban on cage egg production, accused the Government and Opposition of bowing to pressure from
Canberra’s only cage egg facility, Pace Farm, where about 210,000 eggs are laid each year.
Ms Le Couteur unearthed the facility’s 20-year lease showing what it paid in rent. It expires in 2013.
Both parties rejected the ban on the grounds Pace Farm would simply move its operation to NSW, taking
with it Canberra jobs without providing any net benefits to its hens, a threat Chief Minister Jon Stanhope
insisted should be taken seriously.
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