Australia wants to force cats to stay inside or give them a curfew because they are murdering so many other animals they are a threat to the country's biodiversity
Australian with three cats here - they're all indoor and happy about it because i'm not a shitarse pet owner. An outdoor cat in Australia is ecological genocide
From the cats perspective I think it's quite uncontroversial to say they'd be happier roaming free.
EDIT: I'd really love to hear the argument for why a cat actually prefers to live its enitire life indoors, despite this being something we've only done to them for the past few decades or so.
Okay, sure, but that doesn't apply to the vast majority of cats. Your average house cat is much more a wild animal than a dog for example and it's quite ridiculous to think they'd prefer being indoors.
I could literally leave my back door wide open and Cerys would not step foot out it. She hates the outdoors. Punkin's stuck his nose out a few times, but it holds no real interest for him and Misha - who was an abandoned cat that literally decided to move in with us and has lived an extensive part of her life as an in-out cat could not give a shit about going outside.
Needs are met - food, safety, security and entertainment - they're very happy.
But all of that is downright irrelevant. We are talking about an introduced species that wreaks unimaginable ecological damage if left to its own devices. Why the almighty fuck would a cat's fee-fees override that? Not to mention the cat safety issues. I mean i'm sure punkin would be 'happier' with his balls intact merrily raping and impregnating his sister and mother but that shit ain't happening either.