08 March 2015 Committee Secretary Senate Standing Committees on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport PO Box 6100 Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600 Dear Committee Members, I wish to make a submission in support of the Criminal Code Amendment (Animal Protection) Bill 2015. In previous generations every family had a country cousin and would go visit during the holidays. At the very least, families had a few backyard chickens, and maybe a goat. People learned about farms, where their food came from, how it was produced and they knew the importance of a varied and secure food supply. As the population has grown and cities have expanded, many families no longer have a country cousin and a disconnect has developed. Australian farmers go about their busy lives producing food for the masses. Just as our people in urban areas go about their busy lives, manufacturing products and providing important services to the community. An information and awareness divide has formed over the years which sadly neither the farmer nor the average urban person has had time to bridge. This divide has enabled misinformation and suspicion to spread. People asking perfectly reasonable questions about their food supply, unsure of who to ask, are turning to what appears to be an accurate source, and are instead are being provided information by fanatics. Through no fault of our own, society has provided a foot hold for the extremists to attack animal agriculture. In recent years in Australia, we have seen increasingly violent and offensively conspicuous attacks on animal agricultural enterprises. These attacks have included break-ins on farms where video footage has been taken, farmers publicly denigrated and physically attacked, and animals ‘rescued’. The perpetrators, who claim they do what they do for the animals, seem to have motives other than animal welfare; they repeatedly flout biosecurity measures, endangering the health of the animals; use their activities to promote food choices; raise money to fund further advertising campaigns, farm break-ins; and encourage animal rights wannabe’s and zealots to break into farms, saleyards and abattoirs to collect photographs and video. Ironically, in many cases the money raised is being used to fund little hobby farms called sanctuary’s populated with ‘rescued’ animals. Obtaining Evidence Activists obtain photographs and video by trespass; they break into farms, install hidden cameras, and break in again to retrieve the cameras. Many farms have stringent biosecurity measures designed to protect the farms, the environment, the economy and people’s health from pests and diseases. It includes trying to prevent new pests and diseases from arriving, and helping to control outbreaks when they occur. In 2014, on Brian Ahmeds Poultry farm at Werribee Victoria, two women climbed a 10 foot fence security fence to gain access to his poultry. They put the lives of 25,000 chickens at risk. http://www.stockandland.com.au/news/agriculture/livestock/general-news/calls-for-stronger- laws/2703908.aspx?storypage=0 In 2013 activists illegally entered Ean Pollards piggery near Young in NSW and put the health of 12,000 pigs at risk. With the increase of illegal farm break-ins, there is no way of knowing if the activists who had entered Ean Pollards farm and been on other farms in the area before they entered Mr Pollards farm or if they had been exposed to any easily transferrable animal diseases. http://www.farmweekly.com.au/news/agriculture/livestock/general-news/activists-target-second- piggery/2659733.aspx?storypage=0 In 2003, in a feedlot near Portland, Victoria, an animal activist put shredded ham in the yards and paddocks that held sheep destined for live export to the Middle East. Animal Liberation, hailed the subsequent quarantine of the sheep by AQIS a victory. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/11/20/1069027236239.html If animal activists were really concerned about the health and welfare of farm animals, would they really flout biosecurity measures? Handing Over Evidence Once activists obtain photographs and retrieve video footage it is edited, unedited videos’ are rarely released. Music and text is added to evoke an emotional response and then the images are published online. In the many cases images and videos of alleged cruelty is not handed to authorities. Activists claim there is no reason to because; the relevant authorities are not doing their job, the current animal welfare legislation is not being enforced; and, the offenders are not prosecuted. Activists have even gone so far as accusing authorities such as the RSPCA of corruption http://www.aussiepigs.com/news/69-chris-delforce-wants-answers-from-rspca. Therefore, instead of handing footage over to authorities for investigation, they take the vigilante approach and take matters into their own hands, publishing photos and video’s online. Often videos and photographs are not published until the time period during which activists can be charged for trespass has expired. However, once released, a social media campaign begins with activists and supporters sharing the photographs and footage on social media sites. Sometimes footage is released Television channels for airing as ‘exclusives’. If activists are refusing to hand over evidence to authorities, and deliberately endangering the health of the animals by flouting biosecurity measures it does bring into question the validity of their claims that they care about the welfare of the animals. The Demonization of Animal Agriculture Often photographs and video footage obtained on farms is released by activists in time to coincide with a specific event which has a culturally significant food or animal such as Christmas, Australia Day, Chinese New Year and Easter. This Facebook post by Animal Liberation Victoria was part of a campaign launched in time for Australia Day and in opposition to the sheep industry’s promotion of lamb. This post was viewed by 19,077 people, shared by 1,522 people, liked by 593 people, and received 320 comments. The footage was not handed over to authorities for investigation or prosecution. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10153851293022195&set=vb.263328217194&type=2&theater Comments on the post include: No such thing as humane animal farming As it happens i have studied animal behaviour at University. Aside from that...mammals have in common amongst many other things a central nervous system and all have evolved to survive by responding to a pain or fear stimulus through the various senses...sight, smell, touch etc. The automatic response to perceived threat or pain is to vocalise, as a newborn to motivate parental protection and later to warn clan or herd members of danger. When horns, tails, teeth are removed from animals on factory farms without anaesthetic or flesh is burnt in branding, when animals smell the blood, hear the cries of their herd members in a slaughter house they understand those cries and want to escape, to stay alive like all living things, like you and I , they shake with terror and they scream. Do you seriously dispute the science of this? I wonder why you are so defensive and angry? Could it be that you are either making an income from the exploitation and therefore the suffering of animals or that you are a meat eater and searching for a defence for supporting this cruelty. Brave people in many of the animal welfare groups right here in Australia have filmed and photographed sometimes secretly, sometimes by getting employment in factory farms and abattoirs. there are many videos and photos that have been shown commercially and on Facebook. Animals Australia have shown videos on Television. If you go to their site some may be available from there. Hardly any of our Animal Welfare laws in Australia apply to farmed animals.Tail docking of dogs for example is illegal but is a routine procedure on piglets without anaesthetic. "Correct ways" or legal handling animals on factory farms include many forms of torture such as dehorning, branding, tail docking, mulesing,tooth clipping. beak removal all without even painkillers. force feeding, force impregnating confining animals for their whole lives to minute living spaces such as caged chickens, cow stalls, veal boxes and thousands of animals die in ships on export boats in confined, ammonia filled dark quarters where they otherwise live for weeks on end. And then there is the terror of the transporting and final horror of the slaughterhouse where the so called humane stunning only actually works part of the time.Most farm animals live only a small fraction of their normal life expectancy. Please look at some of the earlier posts on this thread. I am surprised you are unaware of them. Once the photographs or video is released, the farmers, workers and the businesses are demonised and referred to as abusers on websites such as Aussie Pigs http://aussiepigs.com/abusers even though no evidence has been handed over and no charges have been brought. Even when evidence has been handed to authorities in a timely manner, the allegations of abuse investigated and no charges have been made, or charges have long been dropped by the authorities, these groups continue to vilify these farmers. It appears that the presumption of innocence does not apply. In some cases photographs of the farmers, personal details and contact details are provided on the Aussie Pigs website http://aussiepigs.com/piggeries/golden-grove http://aussiepigs.com/piggeries/wally. Similar images and public vilification of animal agriculture can be found