Animal Justice Party Coffs Harbour

09/08/2026

SPECIAL NEWCASTLE EVENT w/ EMMA HURST MP 🍿🎟

Animal Justice Party members are invited to a special hour-long cinema soiree with AJP MP Emma Hurst ahead of a Newcastle preview screening of the Tony Jones-directed documentary Sentient.

The Hon. Emma Hurst will also introduce the 4pm screening, touching on her advocacy through politics for animals used in experimentation and what the future holds here in NSW.

The upstairs bar at Tower Cinemas will be open to purchase beverages and snacks, including the cinema's plant-based popcorn. And the AJP will provide some nibbles for attendees.

Tickets to the Sentient screening are on sale now through the Tower Cinemas website for $20. https://www.fivestarcinemas.com.au/newcastle/movie/sentient

Please RSVP to the Politics and Popcorn event as space is limited. https://nsw.animaljusticeparty.org/politics_popcorn_emma_hurst

Politics and Popcorn w/ the Hon. Emma Hurst, MLC
Date: Sunday, August 23, 2026
Time: 2.45pm - 3.45pm
Location: Tower Cinemas, Newcastle (Upstairs Foyer)

ABOUT 'SENTIENT':

Directed by Tony Jones, former host of ABC's Q&A, Sentient is a moving journey into laboratory research on animals, exposing a hidden world in which it's not just the animals getting hurt.

Following the story of Dr Lisa Jones Engel, a primatologist turned animal-welfare advocate, it asks "can we still justify harming animals and ourselves in the name of science?"

"I come at this, not as an activist, but as a lifelong journalist,” says Sentient director Tony Jones, “so we have an ethic of trying to understand both sides of any story, and to not just take a side. I think that it’s up to people to make up their own minds.”

24/07/2026

The recent youth visit to CCWS raises an important question:

What are we teaching children about wildlife?

Connecting young people with nature is incredibly important. Inspiring the next generation to care about wildlife and our environment is something we should all support.

But the messages they take away matter too.

When children see dolphins performing tricks, seals entertaining crowds or wild animals spending their lives in enclosures, the message can become that captivity is normal.

If we want children to grow up respecting wildlife, perhaps the greatest lesson we can teach is that wild animals belong in the wild. Their value isn't measured by how close we can get to them, whether we can pat them, or whether they can perform for us.

Conservation begins with compassion, and compassion begins with the messages we pass on to the next generation.

If you believe we can inspire children to love wildlife without normalising captivity, you're not alone.

🐬 Join the Animal Justice Party and help create a future where wildlife is protected, respected and free.

Become a member. Be part of the change:

animaljusticeparty.org.au/join

Animal Justice Party NSW

14/07/2026

An anonymous visitor to Coffs Coast Wildlife Sanctuary recently contacted us after raising concerns about several elderly penguins they observed with apparent cataracts, including one they believed could barely see.

They shared:

"It was really heartbreaking... staff told me the penguins' eyes fail because they're living beyond their natural lifespan in captivity, and bragged about prolonging their lives as a positive thing. I questioned how being confined and blind was any sort of life... I was met with quite an attitude from staff."

Their experience raises an important question:

⁉️ What matters more: years lived or quality of life?

Research has found that cataracts in captive penguins are associated not only with ageing, but also with husbandry factors such as lighting and water quality. This reinforces the importance of continually reviewing husbandry standards and being transparent - not defensive - when questions about animal welfare are raised.

We acknowledge and support the important work of genuine wildlife rescue and rehabilitation. But providing sanctuary means more than extending an animal's life, it means ensuring that life is one worth living.

09/07/2026

Dolphins are highly intelligent, social animals who belong in the ocean not in tanks where they're expected to interact with visitors, be touched and perform for paying audiences.

Whilst we support genuine wildlife rescue and rehabilitation we believe wild animals should never be exploited for human entertainment.

If you believe dolphins deserve better than a life of performance, share this post and help grow the conversation 🐬

07/07/2026

Endangered Australian sea lion Elle has tragically died at Coffs Coast Wildlife "Sanctuary".

Only months ago, the facility's own social media described Elle and Miki as "best friends" who spent their days together. Then Miki and two other performing sea lions were exported to Sea World.

Sea lions are highly intelligent, emotional and social animals. For an elderly animal, the sudden separation from a companion is a well-known welfare risk. It is heartbreaking to think that Elle may have spent her final days distressed, grieving the loss of her closest companion.

Real sanctuaries provide animals with a safe place to retire, free from exploitation and performances. They don't treat wild animals like circus attractions, separate bonded companions, or send animals away to theme parks.

16/06/2026

Mayor Nikki Williams - Coffs Harbour. The pushback against the Great Koala National Park claims that native forest logging is a sustainable livelihood. The reality? Environmental data, government reviews, and a long string of legal violations paint a picture of an industry in systemic crisis.

Here is why change is happening, and what’s actually being done for the community:

The Industry is Unsustainable ✋

Running Out of Trees: Decades of aggressive over-harvesting and the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires have completely depleted mature timber stocks.

Taxpayer Drain: Unlike private plantation forestry, logging native forests operates at a multi-million dollar loss, requiring continuous taxpayer subsidies to survive.

Habitat Destruction: It takes 100 to 200 years for a tree to develop the hollows needed by endangered koalas and gliders. You can’t just replant that overnight.

What Happens to the Workers?
The NSW Government isn't leaving workers stranded. They’ve rolled out major transition and redundancy packages to help locals pivot:

Generous Redundancies: Capped up to $150,000 based on service time.

Mature Worker Bonuses: Extra financial padding (up to $50,000) for workers over 45.

Retraining & Moving: Up to $9,000 for TAFE/retraining and up to $45,000 for relocation.

Supply Chain Grants: Millions in funding to help local contractors and downstream businesses adapt or shift to tourism.

A History of Legal Breaches
The state-owned Forestry Corporation of NSW (FCNSW) has a track record of violating its own environmental rules, racking up over $1.5 million in fines recently.

The Wild Cattle Creek Case: Fined $450,000 by the Land and Environment Court for illegally destroying a vital "Koala Hub" near Coffs Harbour. (The money was ordered to go directly to local Aboriginal rangers for land healing).

The Irony: Because FCNSW is a state-owned corporation, these massive fines for destroying koala habitats are being funded by NSW taxpayers.

Protecting our forests isn't just about saving koalas—it’s about moving past a broken system and building a sustainable future for local workers.

14/05/2026

A lot of people have questions about what our Stop the Circus campaign is actually about, so we have put it all in one place.

The history of the campaign, who Bella, Zippy and Jet are, and exactly what we are asking for the last three captive dolphins in NSW.

Bella, Zippy and Jet have been in captivity their entire lives, purposely bred, never rescued, and still performing daily for tourists at the misleadingly named Coffs Coast Wildlife Sanctuary.

Read the blog here: nsw.animaljusticeparty.org/stop_the_circus

28/04/2026

This is what the rest of the world is saying about the Coffs dolphinarium 👑

🍌 STREAMING CONCEPT DOLPHIN KING

A completely unofficial, definitely-not-real documentary idea

“From the people who watched Tiger King and thought…
what would this look like in a coastal town?”

28/04/2026

Coffs Coast Wildlife Sanctuary: Does not meet animal welfare guidelines 😢