The Queensland government has bowed to industry pressure and adopted Coles ‘free range’ definition of 10,000 chickens per hectare. The previous commonly accepted standard that applied under the Domestic Poultry Code (4^th edn) was 1,500 birds per hectare. Purported ‘free range’ chickens are thus to be allotted one square metre or the size of your front door mat. Rather than offer a genuine free range alternative, industry has preferred to lobby government to conduct business as usual by hoodwinking consumers by simply shifting the goal posts on the definition of ‘free range’: see more at http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/article/2013/09/01/581464_business-news.html.

Queensland by its Animal Care and Protection Regulation 2012 had previously prescribed 1,500 birds per hectare for a ‘free range’ system.