Animal welfare in Australia has become a significant political issue in recent years. Increasing numbers of Australian's are supporting causes like the anti-whaling organisation Sea Shepherd and the activist group Voiceless.

In 2011 footage of the treatment of Australian live exports in foreign meat-processing plants generated a major political backlash that saw the trade temporarily suspended.

Concern for the issue of the treatment of animals in Australia can be seen in the burgeoning number of animal rights and welfare organisations in Australia (for a compendium see here). This has led to increased conflict between industry organisations and activists over welfare standards and production practices.

Regardless of heightened public and media attention, the politics that drive animal welfare policy in Australia is not well understood.

To address this, I began a book project in early 2013 to provide a scholarly, but readable account of the character and nature of animal protection politics in Australia. It will provide a broad overview of the politics of a range of animal issues in this nation. It will not simply be restricted to well-know issues like live exports and the treatment of stock animals, but also examine issues around the treatment of companion and entertainment animals, experimental animals and issues of political consumerism.

The book project contains a number of research methods. The primary method is a series of long interviews being undertaken with policy makers (politicians, bureaucrats, technical experts), activists and animal welfare providers, and members of industry organisations.

These interviews allow the book to show a balance of perspectives and motivations, and provide insight into the political motivations, tactics and objectives of the parties.

One group that needs considerable attention, however, is the wider Australian public. Most actors in the political debate around animal welfare make claims about the relationship between their goals and views of the public. To date, however, the evidence about the public's political behaviour and level of real concern for animal issues has not been established (for a compilation of what is currently know about Australian's attitudes to animals, see here). This is an important part of the story.

To produce a well-rounded account of animal politics in Australia your support will allow me to undertake a random survey of the Australian public (an "opinion poll") to understand how the public's attitudes to animals informs their political practices and choices. This poll will be conducted by a commercial market research firm, drawing on a national panel of the public to get a weighted cross-section of the public.

This method is the best approach to survey the general public, avoiding problems of voluntary, "opt-in" surveys that tend to over-sample the most interested members of the public.

The amount of money I raise will allow me to expand the number of questions I can ask. I've constructed a "wish list" of questions for this group (you can see the current draft here). For $6,000 I can ask about 9 of these questions. For each dollar over the base request, I can add more to the survey.

The overall book project is proceeding well. I hope to undertake circa 50 interviews, and have completed half of these to date, with the remainder to be completed during 2014. Initial chapter drafting and layout is proceeding well, and the project is on-track to be in a final manuscript in early 2016.