Advocacy!
Mia and Elle are two Board Members from Adelaide Pets Alive! Together their animal welfare advocacy has spanned over 18 years, and still continues today. From their work in advocacy, Mia and Elle met and became friends. Mia became the Co-founder of Adelaide Pets Alive! and Elle became the Founder of Greyhound Welfare Initiative. Together they advocate for vulnerable dogs and cats in South Australia, and much of their work is never publicised.
Mia's Advocacy
For more than a decade, Mia has fought to save the lives of homeless pets.
Mia was instrumental in the puppy farm raid in the Adelaide Hills that saw over 110 animals rescued. She created the first animal shelter playgroup program in Australia which was facilitated by a playgroup specialist from New York. She created CASS: Companion Animal Shelter Summit, a day in the South Australian Parliament that brought together animal welfare agencies, rescues and shelters to discuss progressive programs and policies.
Her advocacy has taken her to the United States to learn about successful life saving programs. She met with veterinarians, lawyers, shelter directors, council members, feline and canine experts to learn how they accomplished successful programs and outcomes for shelter pets and community cats. In 2013, Mia travelled to the United States with Hon. Tammy Franks MLC to pursue a Bill that had been implemented in Austin, Texas.
It took seven years and many roadblocks and setbacks to create the Statutes Amendment (Animal Welfare Reforms) Bill 2020, otherwise known as Lucy's Law.
In July 2021, a Joint Committee was appointed and chaired by Hon. Tammy Franks MLC.
The Bill had unanimous support.
After the election in 2022, support for the Bill was not supported by the Labor Government. This decision ended the possibility of animal welfare progressing in South Australia. It also left a lack of governance and transparency for rescues and shelters.
Due to the status quo and the lack of meaningful change, the only way to move forward and help homeless pets in South Australia was to create Adelaide Pets Alive!
Mia has been instrumental in developing two protocols at her own work - Animals in Hospital and Patient Pet Visitation in the Intensive Care Unit.
Mia supports valid research that promotes each animal as an individual, regardless of species, breed or breed mix. Mia believes that animal welfare legislation in South Australia still remains substandard, especially for community cats, breeding for profit, and animal cruelty.
Mia's Submission:
Mia's Submission:
Immediate Ban on Greyhound Racing (coming soon)
Petition No. 1/2026
Elle's Submission:
Immediate Ban on Greyhound Racing (coming soon)
Elle's Advocacy
Since 2023, Elle has fought to expose the systemic cruelty and secrecy of greyhound racing in South Australia.
Her advocacy intensified during the 2023 independent inquiry into Greyhound Racing SA. She raised serious concerns about the lack of parliamentary privilege and meaningful protection for people providing evidence.
As the South Australian Director for the Coalition for the Protection of Greyhounds, Elle has used publicly available information to examine the industry’s injury rates, deaths, breeding, rehoming, euthanasia practices, integrity failures and government funding.
A major focus of Elle’s work has been the extraordinary lack of transparency surrounding Greyhound Racing SA. In 2024, Elle worked with the Hon. Tammy Franks MLC to advocate for legislative reform.
Her work supported the introduction of the Freedom of Information (Greyhound Racing Transparency) Amendment Bill 2025. The Bill sought to make Greyhound Racing SA an agency under the Freedom of Information Act, allowing the public to seek access to records concerning an industry that receives public money and regulates itself.
Alongside this legislative work, Elle has built relationships with parliamentarians, animal-welfare organisations, veterinarians, academics, adopters and people with direct experience of the racing industry. She has supported people to engage safely with parliamentary processes while carefully protecting their identities and confidential information.
In 2026, Elle spearheaded a petition calling for greyhound racing to be banned in South Australia. More than 11,000 people signed the petition, which led to the establishment of the Social Development Committee to conduct an inquiry into Petition No. 1 / 2026 ─ Immediate ban of greyhound racing in South Australia.
Elle’s advocacy is grounded in the belief that individual affection for greyhounds cannot make an inherently harmful system humane. Elle continues to campaign for transparency, accountability and a legislated phase-out of greyhound racing that protects every greyhound and ensures no dog is not forgotten when their value to the racing industry ends.
