The Animal Justice Party's first politician elected to an Australian parliament, Mark Pearson, wants NSW to ban battery hens. He believes he can muster the numbers to pass a law.
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Mr Pearson will be sworn into the NSW Legislative Council on Tuesday.
He says the Shooters and Fishers MP Robert Borsak has previously told him he is against caged eggs, while the Christian Democratic Party's Fred Nile said publicly on the day Mr Pearson won his seat that he buys free range eggs.
"It's time for NSW to lead the way with a bill to phase out and ban battery hens. The retailers are behind it. Woolworths and Coles are phasing it out because of consumer concerns," Mr Pearson said.
A ban was almost achieved in 2000, and consumer support has grown since then, he said.
Although the Reverend Nile holds the balance of power in the NSW upper house, and is expected to vote with the government, it is also possible for an alliance of Labor, the Greens, and all three minor parties to vote together and deliver the numbers on a given issue.
However, the government still controls the lower house.
Mr Pearson will give his maiden speech on Wednesday. In it he will attack a NSW government bill that targets animal activists secretly filming in farms, under the guise of biosecurity.
Mr Pearson said it would have the effect of putting media outlets in breach of the law for airing footage of animal mistreatment, such as the live baiting of greyhounds.
"Under the 'ag-gag' laws the NSW Government is trying to put through, the footage aired on the ABC would see Four Corners facing the court, not the perpetrators. The government shouldn't be trying to gag whistleblowers."
The bill was introduced by the former primary industries minister Katrina Hodgkinson, who wanted to stop "break-ins" by activists at piggeries in her electorate.
She told ABC Radio farm intruders could spend three years in jail and "will feel the full force of the law".
The Greens want the bill amended to exclude animal activists from prosecution if they have taken biosecurity precautions such as disinfecting footwear, and to make it clear that actions that lead consumers to believe a product is unethical is not a biosecurity impact.
Primary Industries Minister Niall Blair said the bill wouldn't impede animal welfare laws, and was "an important reform, supported by industry, the RSPCA and primary producers right across this State".
"It is absolutely no surprise there is a small minority, whose entire agenda is to destroy a $12 billion industry in this state, that are spreading misinformation about this proposed reform," he said.
RSPCA NSW chief executive Steve Coleman said the RSPCA doesn't support illegal trespassing by activists because the footage they took couldn't be used in court.
"The greyhound footage in NSW is potentially inadmissable," he said.
The RSPCA was frustrated by the public expectation for it to act after shocking footage was aired on television, but there was little chance of prosecutions, he said.
The RSPCA is instead pushing for authorised CCTV surveillance to be installed in intensive farms and greyhound training tracks.
Mr Pearson said most of the people who voted for Animal Justice were "ordinary people, not animal activists", who wanted animals to have a voice in parliament.
"The outrage over live baiting, the killing of puppies and live exports are a huge issue. When the live baiting was happening, who was looking into this?"
On Friday Mr Pearson was shopping for a suit to wear to parliament, and said he would choose a deep shade of blue. "The blue cross is the equivalent of the Red Cross for animals," he explained.
He has hired two parliamentary staff, a lawyer and an IT expert, with animal rights backgrounds.
