Meet Emma Hurst

Vegan, animal rights activist, psychologist, member of Parliament, representative for animal rights in New South Wales Parliament, and member of the NSW Legislative Council representing the Animal Justice Party

As a proud member of the Animal Justice Party Emma represents people like you from across NSW who love animals and want a future where both animals and people live happy, healthy lives free from abuse, suffering, and exploitation.

Since being elected she’s been listening to her constituents; making sure animals stay at the top of the agenda in Parliament and in New South Wales.

So far Emma has been chairing an Inquiry into battery cage hens, investigating the failures of the animal welfare legislation, getting out on the ground to help protest against using animals in “entertainment”, and helping to secure a stable site for Greyhound Rescue’s base of operations. 

Born and raised in Sydney, Emma traces her passion for animal protection back to her childhood when she was cradling a hen. Realizing the hen purred in the same way as her cat, Emma decided she could no longer eat animals and made it her life goal to fight on behalf of those who are voiceless.

Emma has been campaigning for animal protection for over 15 years, first working as a campaign director for Animal Liberation and later as media officer at PETA. During this time, Emma ran a number of highly successful campaigns that saw two major duck producers successfully prosecuted by the ACCC, the end of various cruel wild goat racing events, multiple companies including major burger chains and butchers cease their sales of rabbit meat, and hundreds of animals rehomed from medical research. 

Emma has won a ban on breeding captive cetaceans in NSW, effectively ending the use of dolphins in entertainment! 

Other Inquiries Emma is involved in as Deputy Chair include, puppy farming in NSW, enforcement of animal protection laws, as well as animal protection laws in NSW.

Emma has also helped pass some of the strongest animal cruelty laws in Australia earlier this year, including a ban on the distribution and possession of bestiality and ‘animal crush’ videos, laws to stop animal abusers working with children, getting animals recognised as victims of domestic violence and added on to ADVO’s,  passing an amendment to stop strata by-laws from banning animals, and securing mandatory lifetime bans for animal abusers.

During her time in Parliament, Emma has also been a frequent opponent of Australian ag-gag laws, speaking out against the NSW Government’s Right to Farm Bill and increased biosecurity legislation.

Currently, Emma is spearheading a campaign against puppy farming and is in the process of writing legislation that will ban puppy farms in NSW. She has also been advocating for tougher penalties for acts of animal cruelty, and for animals to be recognized as domestic violence victims in their own right.