NSW Ag Minister Adam Marshall dismisses mulesing bill

"The NSW Government will not be budging on this issue, we are not going to start treating farmers like children," Mr Marshall said.

"We are not going to entertain a ban on mulesing as there is no alternative to mulesing and banning mulesing will have a huge huge adverse impact on the animal welfare outcomes for millions of sheep in NSW."

It comes after the Animal Justice Party introduced a bill to parliament last September prohibiting the mulesing procedure on sheep in NSW. It followed with Victoria making pain relief a compulsory requirement for the procedure from July 1.

Mr Marshall said mulesing was critical to the livestock industry particular the sheep industry and that a vast amount of producers already use anesthetics, analgesics, or other alternatives to mulesing.

He added there was already a market signal to the industry that premiums would be paid to farmers who use those options.

"If we don't hold the line on the issue, next it will be the dehorning of stock, then it's branding, then it's a multitude of other routine agriculture activities that will be under attack," Mr Marshall said.

"We are not going to wear that, we are going hold firm and reject this attack again on a critical wool and sheep industry in this state.

"They can have their committee inquiry on this in the Upper House but I don't care what the outcome of the inquiry is, the government's position is that we are not budging for one moment."

Speaking to The Land previously Mark Pearson of the Animal Justice Party said the industry had been on notice for decades.

Submissions for the bill close tomorrow, with the hearing taking place on August 11 and the committee reporting back on September 24. Interested stakeholders could complete an online questionnaire by visiting www.surveymonkey.com/r/J3DYNYT