Pollies back under-attack farms

POLITICIANS are going into bat for Aussie farmers who have been under attack by animal activists in a cross-border campaign.

Vegan protesters launched a campaign targeting a busy Melbourne street, abattoirs and farms in Victoria, NSW and Queensland on Monday, prompting a renewed call for farmers to take action and a Federal Government agreement to underwrite legal claims.

Attorney-General Christian Porter (pictured) wrote to Privacy Commissioner Angelene Falk to consider investigating Under the Privacy Act the group allegedly behind the activism.

“There are strong grounds to conclude that Aussie Farms Inc is engaging in a systematic effort in collecting, using and disclosing personal information to the detriment of farmers and agricultural producers,” the letter, dated on Monday, states.

Mr Porter also wrote to the state and territory attorneysgeneral and police ministers to urge them to tighten up their criminal trespass laws. Privacy laws were changed last Friday, which exposed Aussie Farms’ website to significant penalties for publishing farmers’ addresses and contact details. Nationals senator John Williams told Sky News that fines were not good enough and there was “a limit to what the farmers will put up with”.

“Farmers are not violent people. But when these people go out there and cut the fence and let the livestock out on the road, well farmers might get angry,” he said on Monday.

“And if the chips are down a bit … you never know what they might do. There might be a punch-up, there might be someone hurt or whatever. But these people are promoting the wrong by stirring up and breaking the law.”