Australia is considering tougher laws to stop animal rights activists secretly filming on farms and abattoirs, and airing the footage, in an effort to protect a multimillion-dollar livestock trade, a move rights groups say will hide abuse.
South Australia is furthest along with a draft law before parliament that would impose heavy fines and a three-year jail term for secretly recording images of animal cruelty.
Seven US states have introduced “ag gag” (anti-whistleblower) laws to make it illegal to take photographs or videos at farms or slaughterhouses without the operators’ permission. US rights groups say the ag gag laws violate rights to free speech.
Livestock producers in Australia say trespass laws are not effective in preventing or prosecuting animal rights groups who covertly film or photograph on farms and threaten the livelihood of farmers.
In 2011, armed with little more than a few cellphones, animal rights campaigners bought Australia’s livestock industry to its knees.
Footage of animal abuse in an Indonesian abattoir ignited a public outcry and swiftly saw the Australian government ban live cattle exports to Indonesia.
Despite the ban lasting only five weeks, Australian cattle exports fell more than 20 percent that year, which was seen as a catalyst behind Indonesia’s policy of self sufficiency that now limits imports from Australia.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) this month released footage showing shearers punching, kicking and throwing sheep, drawing criticism from the Australian government.
“You can not have some sort of quasi vigilante group deciding that their moral ethics and their moral paradigm gives them the right to circumvent all the rules of the nation for the purpose of closing down an industry,” Australian Minister of Agriculture Barnaby Joyce told reporters yesterday.
The national government has said it would like to see all states and territories adopt Ag Gag laws.
“If this evidence-gathering becomes hindered by so called Ag Gag legislation, the concern is that the general public will continue to be left in the dark about the many atrocities committed against animals,” PETA Australia campaign coordinator Claire Fryer said.
“Existing regulation of the treatment of animals used in agriculture has proved inadequate, making it necessary for individuals and animal-protection groups to gather evidence and report violations,” she added.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in