Protest without breaking the law
Jan Davis reckons animal welfare groups are going too far and must go back on the leash
ACROSS the world, farmers are facing ongoing orchestrated attacks from protesters.
These protesters argue that animal welfare is of such overriding importance that anyone who suspects a farmer may be acting outside welfare guidelines and laws has the right to invade their farm, and often their home, to set up covert cameras to obtain video evidence of bad behaviour.
Australian farmers fear a court decision handed down last week could embolden a fresh round of this sort civil disobedience.
After extensive probes into a series of piggeries break-ins in 2015, two animal rights activists were charged by NSW Police with privacy offences and the NSW Surveillance Devices Act.
After several preliminary hearings and legal negotiations, the case came to court last week.
In an upset outcome, the judge dismissed charges against the protesters due to a technical flaw in police investigative and charging procedures.
These activists have no regard for existing laws or for the people and communities affected by their actions.
Their thoughtlessness can put animals at risk by spreading devastating diseases. They can compromise quality assurance and workplace health and safety regulations.
They create fear and distress in families, including young children who are terrified to go to sleep at night for fear of intruders.
This does not mean that, in any way, I condone animal cruelty or deceptive or wrongful conduct, but I do believe in the rule of law.
This says no one is permitted to invade another’s privacy and trespass on private property or to frighten and harass their families or to prevent others from earning their living or to put business and livelihoods at risk.
There are more than enough legal and democratic paths to deal with illegal behaviour without having to resort to threats, trespass and property invasion.
No one should be allowed to enter your farm or your home without permission, film what they like, chain themselves to the workbench, send the footage to the media and then expect not to be prosecuted and sued.
How would you like it to happen to you?
Let’s say I feared that a neighbour was mistreating their children or beating their wife or abusing their elderly parents. Would I be justified in breaking into their home in the dead of night, and in planting secret cameras and taking the footage to the media to name and shame them? Of course not, the proper course of action would be to refer my concerns to the relevant authorities and leave them to do what is necessary within their legislated powers.
Expectations change over time and farmers respond appropriately. Things that were taken for granted 30 years ago are not acceptable now. Things that are seen as usual now will no doubt be unacceptable in the future.
However, change will only happen as quickly as society in general moves. The solutions are in our hands as consumers.
Australian farmers are legally required to meet standards that are as high as those found anywhere in the world, and far above those in most countries.
Yet our farmers are exposed to the vagaries of the global market place with no support and hence play on a very uneven field.
Lobbying politicians to ban products that do not comply with the same standards as local producers have to meet is one way of moving the bar.
Putting pressure on retailers to refuse to stock products that do not comply with the same standards would also be sensible, as is encouraging other consumers to pay the premiums needed to support local farmers.
Most farmers are proud of what they do and are willing to showcase their businesses. They are understandably wary, however, of opening their gates to people who come with preconceived and judgmental attitudes.
Farmers are like most people. There are bad apples in every walk of life, and no one supports or condones any form of bad behaviour.
Yet there is neither need nor justification to single farmers out for more draconian treatment.
No matter how valid their cause, protesters do not hold a privileged position above every other citizen. They do not have the right to pick and choose which laws they will abide by, and which they feel they should be exempt from. If they do break the law, they should be treated in the same way as any other criminals.