By Mitchell Clarke
A Caldermeade farmer, who became the target of extreme animal activists, has welcomed a State Government decision to enforce on-the-spot fines to farm trespassers.
John Gommans, who owns the popular Caldermeade Farm and Cafe, was forced to partly shut his Gippy Goat Cafe and Farm in Trafalgar, after activists stormed the property and stole livestock.
He said the recommendations from the Inquiry into the Impact of Animal Rights Activism on Victorian Agriculture, were the first step in revisiting farm trespass laws.
“I think it’s given farmers a lot of confidence that their properties are safe and secure,” Mr Gommans said.
Agriculture Minister Jaclyn Symes announced the government would support 13 of the 15 recommendations from the inquiry in full, one in principle and reject one.
The State Government will incorporate on-the-sport fines for biosecurity breaches, consider implementing CCTV footage in abattoirs and work with farmers to develop biosecurity managements and actions on animal welfare complaints.
“Our farmers and agricultural businesses should be free to do their work without fear of being targeted by animal activist groups, who put hard working farming families, biosecurity and the animals they purport to protect at risk,” Ms Symes said.
The State Government said the legislation will be introduced with an intention to make such fines among the heaviest in the country, but an actual figure is yet to be revealed.
“We are yet to see the final numbers of what the penalties will be but I think an instant fine, even if it is only $1000, is a good start,” Mr Gommans said when asked if he believed the fines would act as a deterrent.
“Certainly the larger corporate fines will be a deterrent.”
Eastern Victoria Nationals MP Melina Bath, who first raised the “issue of animal activism” in Parliament, said she vehemently rejected any moves to allow public interest surveillance on farms by activists.
“The intent of the inquiry was to fix farm trespass laws, not weaken them and hand activists a get out of jail free pass,” she said.
“Farm trespass is illegal and there are no excuses for breaking the law, harassing farmers or breaching biosecurity.”
Prominent animal activism group, Aussie Farms, who released a controversial map locating farms and abattoirs, acknowledged the inquiry managed to highlight “the total lack of transparency and legal restrictions” that the industry operated under.
“It’s a shame to see that the State Government’s priority appears to be boosting consumer confidence in the industry, rather than doing anything to actually address the underlying concerns of those consumers,” Aussie Farms executive director Chris Delforce said.
“They’ve supported the recommendation for CCTV in slaughterhouses, but unless that CCTV is publicly accessible it’s effectively useless as a means of boosting transparency, and in practice will only serve to limit the ability of activists to capture and expose footage publicly.”
Mr Delforce labelled a $710,000 communications campaign to back farmers as a “propaganda campaign”, stating the State Government wanted to assure consumers that “everything’s fine”.
“They’ve supported minor improvements to animal welfare legislation, but have said nothing about the growing calls for the exemptions for commercially farmed animals to be removed from that legislation so that pigs, chickens, turkeys, ducks, cows, goats and sheep could be legally protected from cruelty in the same way as dogs and cats,” Mr Delforce added.
“We will continue to push for farm animals to be legally protected from cruelty, and for greater industry transparency so that consumers can make informed decisions about what they’re willing to support with their purchases.”
