The party’s New England candidate, Skyla Wagstaff, said puppy factories, along with their kitten equivalents, were perfect examples of “government-sanctioned animal cruelty”, that was “taking place on everyone’s front door step”

“Some state governments have taken steps to ban them, but NSW refuses to do so,” she said.

“The federal government must act to ensure uniformity and better animal protection across the country.

“This hideous, commercial and profit driven industry affects us all. It affects the poor breeding bitches, their puppies, but also families who through lack of awareness purchase the pups and kittens either online, directly or through pet shops.”

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Ms Wagstaff said the industry was also impacting everyday taxpayers, as illegal puppy and kitten farms are not paying taxes.

She said studies into the puppy factory industry in NSW have shown a black market economy as large as $1.8 billion nationwide exists.

“There is nothing more important, nothing which completes an Aussie family, than a furkid whether they be a dog or cat – but the process in how we get that furkid must be cruelty free,” Ms Wagstaff said.

“I am also concerned about the effective monitoring of the export of any of these factory-bred companion animals, from Australia to overseas countries.

“We have all seen these disgusting places on the news. Indeed even in the New England region we’ve seen the horror stories. And in all moral and ethical conscience, let alone the cruelty and tax fraud, on every level they need to be banned.”