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Action against animal activists
FOLLOWING months of co-ordinated activist attacks on Queensland’s intensive animal farmers, new regulations under the Biosecurity Act allowing the Queensland Police Service and biosecurity officers to immediately fine people who put on- farm biosecurity at risk are now in force.
Action from govern- ment has been a long time coming for our sector – too long for those farmers who have already been targeted by activists.
These regulations re- quire people entering any farming operation to comply with the proper- ty’s biosecurity manage- ment plan or face fines of $652.75, either issued on the spot or later after fur- ther evidence is gathered.
The regulations also en- able individual fines of $2611 to be imposed if a
farmer chooses to pros- ecute.
The fines are cumula- tive, so those individuals piling into cars driving from farm to farm can be charged each time.
If not paid, they are registered with the State Penalties Enforcement Registry.
For the fines to be en- forceable, the farming business needs to be reg- istered as a biosecurity entity with Biosecurity
Queensland, have an up- to-date biosecurity man- agement plan in place and have appropriate signage at the entry points to their property.
The trespass on farm- land penalties under the Summary of Offences legislation, which ena- bles fines of $1305 or six months’ imprisonment (and fines of $2611 or one year’s imprisonment for general trespass) to be applied if a farmer prose-
cutes, remain in place but have proven ineffective.
The Queensland Farm- ers’ Federation and mem- ber industries have been constructively working with the Queensland Gov- ernment and Opposition for some time to better address this issue.
It is incumbent upon the Parliament to ensure it delivers adequate pro- tections for law-abiding citizens to run their busi- nesses without the threat of this disruptive, costly and damaging law-break- ing behaviour from a minority element in the community.
It remains to be seen if the biosecurity regula- tions will be an effective deterrent to the activists carrying out these unwar- ranted activities against farmers, but they are a step in the right direc- tion.
Activists harm their own cause
ANIMAL activists may have success- fully disrupted traf- fic and some farming operations, but they’ve turned many Austral- ians off their cause,
Minister for Agricul- ture David Littleproud said recently.
“If the aim was to stop traffic they’ve succeed- ed, but if the aim was to convert Australians to
veganism then these peo- ple did huge damage to their cause,” Minister Lit- tleproud said.
“Fair-minded Austral- ians find this behaviour extreme.
“I continue to call for calm.
“Invading people’s prop- erties is not the Australian way.
“If I broke into a subur- ban house in Melbourne or Sydney, I’d expect to be arrested, handcuffed and taken away.”
Minister Littleproud said breaking into a farm should be no different.
“These are family homes and children live here,” he said.
“Federally, we’ve done our bit – we’ve brought Aussie Farms and its attack map for activists under the Privacy Act so that misuse of personal information re- sults in enormous fines.
“Now the states must beef up trespass laws so serious penalties apply for invading farms.
“I have no problem with any person’s choice to be vegan – vegans eat plenty of farm produce too – but making farmers scared of property invasions and stopping honest people getting to work shows no respect and wins no friends.”
by STUART ARMITAGE PRESIDENT
Protesters blocked the entrance of Melbourne Aquarium. Photo: ABC News – Kristian Silva
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National Poultry Newspaper, May 2019 – Page 5