May 29, 2023
The National Farmers Federation has slammed “radical” animal rights activists after a spate of incidents which it has described as illegal and intimidating.
The call follows last week’s Senate Estimates hearings where Australian Pork Limited CEO Margo Andrae spoke about recent protests.
Ms Andrae said protesters had disguised themselves as tradesmen to gain access to her organisation’s office, setting up cameras and frightening staff.
She said an activist had posed as a plumber and hid in the toilets.
Ms Andrae said her team had also been harassed on social media and numerous calls had been made to her personal telephone.
“What we heard is completely unacceptable and it needs to be called out,” NFF vice-president David Jochinke said.
“Everyone should have the right to feel safe in their workplace,” Mr Jochinke said.
“These people are doing their jobs and have done nothing wrong. They don’t deserve that sort of harassment.
“Having a different view to someone doesn’t give you the right to flout the law or intimidate people.”
Mr Jochinke called on the Federal Government to publicly condemn the people behind the intimidation campaign, and commit to not engaging with them.
“The perpetrators of this campaign can’t just go around frightening people and breaking the law completely unchecked. They are not genuine voices in the animal welfare discussion and simply seek to destroy the livelihoods of Australian farming families,” he said
“People who ignore the rights of others by harassing them at their place of work, shouldn’t have a right to be heard by policymakers.”
We should disrupt their lives and business, if they even work, by publicly name and shame them all. They’re not activists, they are democracy killers.