Jennifer Horsburgh has been a resident of the Gold Coast since 1982 and has spent 30 years teaching at a local high school. She is deeply involved in her community, volunteering for the Wildcare hotline, Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, the Burleigh parish, and the Austrian-Australian club.
Jennifer believes that local government should work to alleviate the rising cost of living for community members. She advocates for limiting rate increases and restricting spending and grants for businesses that she believes exploit people, animals, and the environment.
Instead, she supports initiatives that directly benefit the community, such as addressing 1080 poisoning, urban sprawl, and protecting local biodiversity.
If elected, Jennifer plans to prioritize funding for animal-friendly accommodation and retirement homes, including domestic violence refuges and crisis accommodation. She recognizes that without animal-friendly options, many people remain in unsafe situations or are forced to sleep rough rather than abandon their companion animals.
Jennifer supports town planning initiatives that recognize the intrinsic value and wellbeing of animals, nature, and people. She plans to end nearby forest clearing, increase local green spaces, advocate for crucial wildlife corridors, and ensure that public transport is affordable, reliable, accessible, and safe for people and their companion animals.
The Gold Coast area currently allows the use of 1080, a poison Jennifer considers cruel and indiscriminate. She notes that 1080 is responsible for painful animal deaths, including native wildlife such as possums and birds, and poses a risk to community safety, especially companion animals and young children.
As such, Jennifer’s first initiative will be to implement a complete ban on the use of 1080 poison in the Gold Coast LGA.
The Animal Justice Party (AJP) envisions a kinder Australia, advocating for the ethical treatment of animals alongside responsible environmental stewardship. It focuses on policy areas crucial to animal welfare such as ending puppy farming, factory farming, live animal export, and hunting.
Beyond animal issues, the AJP adopts positions aligned with its core values of kindness, equality, rationality, and non-violence on broader societal matters, including reproductive rights, criminal justice reform, and environmental policies. The party opposes the use of 1080 poison for animal population control, advocates for the decriminalization of cannabis, and supports measures to address climate change, emphasizing the harmful impacts of animal agriculture.
The AJP promotes a legislative framework that prioritizes animal rights, including the banning of live animal exports, and the phase-out of animal experimentation. Additionally, it champions access to abortion, proposes raising the age of criminal responsibility, and supports a comprehensive approach to asylum seekers, reflecting its commitment to a compassionate and equitable society.