Page 6 - National Poultry Newspaper

Australian Government delivers to protect farmers
THE Australian Gov- ernment has delivered on its election com- mitment to protect the privacy of Australian farmers and primary producers by introduc- ing legislation to protect them from the unlawful actions of animal activ- ists.
The Criminal Code Amendment (Agricultur- al Protection) Bill 2019 introduces new offences for the incitement of tres- pass, property damage or theft on agricultural land.
Attorney-General Christian Porter said incidents of trespass by animal activists, such as those we saw earlier this year, have impacted on Australian farmers and their businesses, prompt- ing this stronger action to deter those who incite this behaviour.
“There must be conse- quences for this unac- ceptable behaviour,” the Attorney-General said.
“Farmers should not be subjected to the illegal invasion of their property and privacy.
“The Bill introduces serious criminal penal- ties to ensure farmers and their families are protected, with offenders facing up to five years’ imprisonment.
“The Bill includes ex- emptions for journalists and whistle-blowers who expose instances of ani- mal cruelty.”
The Bill also covers other private agricultural businesses such as fish- ers and foresters.
Minister for Agricul- ture Bridget McKenzie said the Bill sends a clear message to animal activ- ists that if you use the personal information of our family farmers to incite trespass then you will be risking jail, once the Bill passes.
The government has al- so called on the state and territory governments to increase penalties to de- ter animal rights activists from trespass.
“These laws are nec- essary to protect farm- ers and their businesses – most of them small family businesses – from potential trespass, prop- erty damage, theft and biosecurity breaches, and the substantial loss of in- come that could follow,” the Minister said.
“These new laws build on other actions taken by the Morrison Govern- ment to protect farmers and their families, in- cluding prescribing Aus- sie Farms under the Pri- vacy Act, meaning the organisation could face fines of up to $2.1 mil- lion for breaches of the Act.
“The Federal Govern- ment is committed to supporting Australian farmers, their families and their businesses and this Bill delivers on that commitment to this criti- cally important part of our economy – our $60 billion agriculture indus- try.”
Be prepared for hot chooks with fire-resistant feathers
☛ from P4
found in the hair, wool, horns and hooves of mammals, I now un- derstand they are also naturally occurring flame inhibitors.
Dr Bhattacharyya and his team have pre- viously shown chemi- cally modified wool fibres can also be used as an effective retard- ant.
This could provide a revenue stream for low-grade wool in an era when the price of and demand for wool have declined.
They more recent- ly turned to chicken feathers as an alterna- tive source of kerati- nous fibres, which are even cheaper and in many countries, more of a waste problem.
His team has devel- oped a rapid and sim- ple way to chemically modify the keratinous fibres of both wool and chicken feath- ers and convert them into a flame-retardant powder that can be added to polymeric materials.
The powder enhances the fire-retardancy of
the polymer by accel-
erating char forma- tion, the solid material produced in the initial stages of combustion and which inhibits combustion.
“So it’s a perfect fire retardant material, passes most fire re- tardant standards and can be used with poly- meric materials,” Prof Bhattacharyya said.
He acknowledges the method has so far been proven in the lab and moving it to market will require getting companies on board to develop ways to produce the ke- ratinous fibre-based product at a large scale and to ensure it is compatible with existing manufactur- ing processes.
With initial results promising, it has report- edly attracted the atten- tion of multinationals.
“Our invention, whose intellectual property rights are protected, has been tested to show that it could be a direct re- placement for APP, the predominant existing product,” he said.
Page 6 – National Poultry Newspaper, August 2019
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