Page 1 - Australian Pork Newspaper

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Vol 23. No. 2 February 2019 Australian Pork Newspaper PO Box 387 Cleveland 4163 Phone (07) 3286 1833 Fax (07) 3821 2637 Email ben@porknews.com.au
The ‘Aussie Farms’ map.
Aussie farmers fight back in face of radical anti-farm group intimidation
Aussie No Farms is more like it...
IT’S been interesting watching the response of the broader animal agricul- ture industries to the recent events around the Aussie Farms group.
The pork industry unfor- tunately has borne the brunt of this group in the form of farm raids, cruelty ac- cusations, defamation of our farmers and stolen livestock for years.
It’s great now to see the full wrath of all Australian livestock farmers and a large chunk of the public directed towards these hypocrites.
We’ve been aware of the existence of the Aussie Farms pig farm database for some time with its inaccura- cies.
That they now have put it into a map format for all to see doesn’t really change much for us but has attracted a lot of public attention.
The Aussie Farms group is a fraud.
Its members tell lies in the name of preventing animal cruelty, but in reality they are extreme vegan ideo- logues with an objection to any human-animal interac- tions.
They need to start being a lot more honest about who they are to the Australian pub- lic.
Even their name is mis- leading – they are an ex- treme anti-farming group and don’t deserve to carry the name they do.
Whether it is legal or not to provide personal details of farming families and busi- nesses, the intent behind their online map is that it is a tool to use to break the law and that is just plain wrong – outrageously so.
Groups such as these have an ‘any means to an end’ attitude, which means they are prepared to misrepre- sent, defame, lie and break the law in the name of their warped world view.
They have no respect for the fact others might have
Point of View
by ANDREW SPENCER CEO
a different opinion to them and have rights of their own. They claim all sorts of ‘atrocities’ by animal indus- tries to try to justify their actions, which are not only totally false, but totally ir- relevant to their philosophy, which is anti-animal farm- ing irrespective of how the animals are treated and ir- respective of the impacts on
the environment.
Their false claims only ex-
ist to achieve the outcome they want.
They can therefore only be judged as totally disingenu- ous.
If we lived according to their world view, there would be no pets, no pigs, no sheep, no cattle, no horses and no chickens.
You could drive from Mel- bourne to Sydney and not see a farm animal out the window.
That doesn’t sound like a better world for animals to me.
The fact is our industry and others like it in Australia are all about raising animals well.
We’re the ones who get up in the morning to go down to feed the pigs, the ones spend- ing the millions of dollars on welfare research to improve the lives of animals, the ones who every day put our best efforts into producing healthy and ethical meat without cru- elty.
At the end of the day, groups such as these don’t
improve the life of one ani- mal.
In fact, some of the things they have done and made happen on the farms they have invaded have been ab- solutely atrocious in terms of the animal welfare impacts.
This includes spreading disease, stressing sows in the middle of the night and stealing newborn piglets on- ly to describe their inevitable death – without their mother and the necessary colostrum – via social media.
We’ve already heard the allegations around ‘cash for camera action’ by Animals Australia in the media over recent weeks.
It has caused many of us to ask the question as to whether the vision we see through the media is only a setup to achieve an outcome, paid for if necessary, using mercenaries.
The community deserves to understand a lot more about how these groups op- erate.
I’m happy to hear the real concerns about how our pig farms function and have a discussion with genuine people who have an interest because they consume our product.
Groups like Aussie Farms, however, are frauds – they only have an interest in put- ting our industry out of busi- ness, by any means they can.
They are not interested in the welfare of our pigs.
AUSTRALIAN farming families are under siege from a malicious social media campaign run by an extreme anti-farm group.
According to its website, Aussie Farms’ ‘core value’ is a belief that animals should not be owned for human purposes.
The Facebook page links to a map with the details of hun- dreds of farmers implying a connection to animal cruelty and urging people to gather images, videos and other docu- ments in relation to the ad- dresses revealed.
National Farmers’ Federation president Fiona Simson said the implications could be dire and has demanded Facebook close the page promoting the map immediately and for the group to be stripped of its char- ity status.
“Farmers’ privacy, their right to farm and most disturbingly,
their safety and that of their families and animals, are at risk,” Ms Simson said.
“Australian farmers have had enough and we will not stand by and watch attempts to de- stroy farms, families and rural communities.”
Ms Simson said the NFF had fielded calls from farmers who had been included on the map, in some instances who were represented as running busi- nesses that in fact, they do not.
“They are rightly distressed that their name has incorrectly been linked to ‘animal cru- elty’,” Ms Simson said.
“They are extremely anxious and very angry that their work- place, and their home, has be- come the target of extreme and dangerous activities.”
Aussie Farms, unbelievably, a registered charity, has been linked to a number of trespass incidents, including an incident
in December where 55 protest- ers forced their way into an abattoir in Nhill, Victoria.
“Their agenda is simple and straightforward: they want to see an end to farms, and that means an end to many farm- ers and the contribution they make,” Ms Simson said.
The map comes only days after the ‘dark arts’ of Ani- mals Australia were revealed, with allegations the group paid ship workers to capture footage aboard live export vessels.
“Almost every day, we’re see- ing examples of activists ac- cessing farms and businesses without permission, seeking to disrupt the work our farmers do,” Ms Simson said.
“These types of stunts risk human and animal wellbeing and are deeply offensive.
“The presence of unap- proved people in farm environ-
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