Local turkey producer, Judy Leadoux, spoke at a Parliamentary Inquiry on Tuesday telling Upper House members there should be heavier penalties if people trespass on farms and break the law.
“We shouldn’t be subject to trespass, harassment and intimidation,” Mrs Leadoux said.
“We haven’t been impacted but the threat is there and we feel we have a right to farm.”
Mrs Leadoux said they had received notification from PrimeSafe in April of possible animal activism and to be vigilant and aware.
“We are listed on that farms website and it put the wind up us,” she said.
The first hearing of the Impact of Animal Rights Activism on Victorian Agriculture was hosted in Bairnsdale with a second hearing on Wednesday in Warragul, where Gippy Goat Café owner, John Gomanns, presented.
The inquiry is in response to farm invasions by animal activists, as well as the release of a website listing farms across Australia in January, and the subsequent closure of the affected Gippy Goat Café in April.
It also comes at a time when the New South Wales government plans to introduce a new Right to Farm Bill and legislate possible jail time for people who trespass on farms.
The Legislative Council Economy and Infrastructure Committee, chaired by the member for Northern Metropolitan Region, Nazih Elasmar, included a variety of Upper House members, also joined by Minister for Agriculture, Melina Bath, and the Member for Western Victoria, and Animal Justice Party member, Andy Meddick.
The committee must report back by February 1, 2020.
Mr Meddick questioned Mrs Leadoux about her understanding of the penalties in place for activist trespass, which was followed by Ms Bath asking if Mrs Leadoux knew there was no minimum penalty, and whether she thought $1 fine was an appropriate penalty.
“Definitely not,” Mrs Leadoux said.
“My home is my farm, it’s a joke, it really is.”
Other speakers to voice their submissions included John Buxton, of Buxton Ag, and Orbost dairy farmer, Chris Nixon.
“Why should a farm be any different to a business in the city?” Mr Nixon asked the panel.
“We are the experts on the ground,” Mr Buxton said.
“Our home is also our workplace.
“I see all of our farm as our space, if you intrude on it, I feel threatened.”
Gippsland East Nationals MP, Tim Bull, said it was his personal hope some minimum sentences would be put in place for ‘illegal and risky actions’ that were more in line with community expectations.
The immediate past president of the Livestock and Rural Transporters Association of Victoria, Graham Howell, told of activists who lay on the road to stop trucks carting pigs into an abattoir while others scaled the crate and bulbar yelling insults at the drivers.
Organic egg producer, Meg Parkinson, told the inquiry there was a lack of balanced penalties.
“The animal activists are about animal rights, not welfare,” Ms Parkinson said.
“Animals aren’t people and should be treated and respected for the animals they are.
“Agriculture is the backbone of the Australian economy, particularly exports, and farmers are the animal welfare experts.”
PICTURED: Judy Leadoux, of Leadoux Turkeys, presented at the first of a series of public hearings into the impact of animal rights activism on Tuesday in Bairnsdale. She is pictured with the chair of the committee Member for Northern Metropolitan Region, Nazih Elasmar, and the Minister for Agriculture, Melina Bath.
