Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the Leader of the Government in the Senate. I indeed have something to say, briefly, in the adjournment debate while Senator Lines makes her way into the chamber. Who in this chamber has or knows somebody who has experienced a break in? Unfortunately, it has become an occurrence for our farmers, whose properties are being trespassed upon and whose operations are being secretly filmed, sometimes over days, even weeks and months. The perpetrators are not animal rights activists; they are vigilantes intent on shutting down our profitable livestock industries.

The founder of the Aussie Farms websites, Chris Delforce, admits that he believes various livestock industries 'don't have a right to exist anymore' and that meat consumption is unnecessary. Abattoirs and pig, egg, and chicken farming are on his hit list. He releases video footage obtained through covert surveillance on a website he has created. He does not know what the alternative would be for farming families and others reliant on these industries for survival. He has also pledged that his website will expose footage from 100 piggeries throughout Australia by the year's end, having already targeted 24 in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia. It includes listing the names of different piggery directors, their phone numbers, addresses and Google Maps locations.

Then there is PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, whose latest video footage targets the wool industry. PETA reportedly sent three undercover investigators to shearing sheds between late 2012 and March 2014 and shot the video between October 2013 and February 2014. If PETA really cared about the sheep concerned, why did they not immediately hand the footage over to authorities to investigate? Not two years after filming began and months after it finished.

In many cases, these are sophisticated operations. Last year, for example, elaborate video equipment was found in a false ceiling built in a furrowing house at a piggery in south-west New South Wales. Experiencing this level of intrusion on a private property is very unsettling. In fact, many of them feel similar to how homeowners would feel if they had been burgled. They would feel that they had been traumatised, that they had been invaded and that their staff had been put at risk.

What I find disturbing, as I am sure others would, is that this unlawful behaviour by so-called 'undercover investigators' has been condoned by Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon. Yesterday in the Senate, Senator Rhiannon again refused to condemn these actions and opposed the notice of motion I presented. Senator Rhiannon must respect the role of the relevant authorities, not of vigilantes, in addressing any cases of animal cruelty. Her stance is also at odds with her own party's Keep Farmers on the Land policy, which focuses on protecting farm jobs, apparently, and acknowledges the challenges farmers endure to make a living from the land.

The coalition government does not tolerate animal cruelty in any form but does not believe it is widespread. In the case of the PETA shearing video, Wool Producers Australia president, Geoff Fisken, said it showed isolated incidents and does not portray the 99.9 per cent of wool shearers, who would be appalled by the footage. These are industries which adhere to strong welfare policies. Nor does this government tolerate the activities of vigilantes which is the purpose of the notice of motion that I presented to the Senate yesterday and that was passed, thanks to the support of Labor and the crossbench.. My colleague Senator Chris Back is proposing a private senators bill with similar intentions while also ensuring any cruelty to animals is promptly reported.

As well, this government shares concerns by livestock industries that the illegal activities of these vigilantes pose significant threats to on-farm biosecurity measures, and the subsequent health risk to the animals, through the potential spread of pests and disease. Such contamination would also have serious economic ramifications for these farm operations. An egg farmer at Werribee in my home state of Victoria was very concerned for the health of his hens after a break-in by animal vigilantes at around 2 am one morning in June. His hens are kept in conditions designed to minimise the risk of them catching disease, and these were compromised after the break-in. Advice also suggests that such activities have potential implications for our trade and export arrangements. Australia's favourable pest and disease status is integral to the domestic and international standing of our agricultural and food sector.

The right to privacy and the lack of it with the increasing use of drones is another concern for our farmers. Animal Liberation, for example, has reportedly used drones to step up its campaign against intensive livestock industries. The NFF raised legitimate concerns about how this footage is used and edited. Deborah Kerr from Australian Pork Limited rightly told a recent parliamentary roundtable on drones and privacy, held by the House of Representatives Social Policy and Legal Affairs Committee, that it should be up to the appropriate regulators, not activist organisations, to use this technology to investigate agricultural facilities, where necessary. The point is that just as people are not permitted to trespass on private property in urban areas they should not be able to do so on rural land, many of which are farmers' family homes. These are farmers with strong husbandry skills and a commitment to the welfare of their animals.

According to Meat and Livestock Australia, Australia has become an international leader in the development of welfare standards and guidelines for the red meat industry. Factoring in the flow-on effects, the industry contributes $16.2 billion in gross domestic product, or 1.3 per cent of total GDP. It also underpins more than 148,000 full-time equivalent jobs.

Australia is the one of the few countries in the world where the welfare of pigs is protected by a model code of practice, developed along with vets, regulators and welfare groups. In recognition of growing community concerns about the welfare of sows, the industry has committed to phasing out gestation stalls, by 2017. When flow-on effects are taken into account, the pork industry contributes almost $2.8 billion to the gross domestic product and underpins more than 20,000 full-time equivalent jobs.

The Australian chicken meat industry uses national model codes of practice that were developed in consultation with governments, industry and animal welfare groups. The industry's gross value of production was $2.21 billion in 2012-13, and it directly employs an estimated 40,000 people.

The egg industry, again, adheres to a model code of practice for the welfare of animals, also developed in consultation with industry and animal welfare groups. The gross value of egg production in Australia was $653 million in the 2012-13 financial year, and the egg industry directly employs around 4,000 people.

Overall, the animal industries, the animal welfare bodies, the veterinary profession and the research community are all engaged in the development of animal welfare policy and legislation here in Australia that is world class. Further, Australian farms and their closely related sectors generate $155 billion a year in production, underpinning 12.1 percent of gross domestic product. Australia's farm exports earned the country $32.5 billion in 2010-11, up from $32.1 billion in 2008-09. The agricultural sector, plus related farm services, employs 1.6 million people, or 17.2 percent of our nation's labour force. No sane person would want to shut these industries down.

I will conclude with a reader's comment in The Land in response to this particular issue: 'You don't destroy the car industry because a few drivers are doing the wrong thing. … If you have evidence of cruelty … let the courts take action.' In the motion the Senate passed yesterday, that is precisely what the Senate agreed should occur.