{"id":231603,"date":"2019-03-25T16:37:50","date_gmt":"2019-03-25T06:37:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=231603"},"modified":"2019-03-25T21:52:54","modified_gmt":"2019-03-25T11:52:54","slug":"agforce-calls-for-harsher-penalities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2019\/03\/25\/agforce-calls-for-harsher-penalities\/","title":{"rendered":"AgForce Calls For Harsher Penalities"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_207401\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-207401\" style=\"width: 200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/mikeguerin1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-207401\" src=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/mikeguerin1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"317\" srcset=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/mikeguerin1.jpg 200w, https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/mikeguerin1-189x300.jpg 189w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-207401\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">AgForce CEO Mike Guerin (Photo: AgForce)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><b>March 25, 2019<\/b><\/p>\n<p>AgForce has called for animal activists who illegally enter feedlots and farms to be subject to the full force of the law, saying it was only a matter of time before &#8220;a dangerous stunt&#8221; ended in serious injury or death.<\/p>\n<p>The plea came after the latest incident, where 100 activists yelling slogans entered a Millmerran feedlot and dairy at the weekend.<\/p>\n<p>AgForce said the farmer&#8217;s family and livestock had been terrified by the incident.<\/p>\n<p>CEO Michael Guerin said that, far from the caring, peace-loving image the\u00a0 protesters liked to portray, they were violent bullies who relied on threats, intimidation and terror to push their agenda.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Harsh words and condemnation mean nothing to the thugs perpetrating these acts,&#8221; Mr Guerin said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Peaceful protest is one thing, but trespassing on to someone else&#8217;s property, frightening children and animals, breaching biosecurity measures that are there to protect everyone &#8211; this is criminal activity we&#8217;re witnessing and it&#8217;s going unpunished.<\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8220;My biggest concern is that it&#8217;s going to take someone getting seriously hurt or even killed before governments increase the penalties to fit the seriousness of the crime and the courts start enforcing them.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I know I&#8217;d feel threatened by the sort of mob action that took place on the weekend if they came over my back fence. I&#8217;d fear for the safety of my family. These are not the actions of a peaceful, law-abiding group.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Mr Guerin said he respected a person&#8217;s right not to eat meat, but that shouldn&#8217;t extend to being able to commit acts of violence and terror against those who do, or against those who produce it. <\/p>\n<p>He said recent fines handed out for trespassing onto family farms &#8211; $1 for an incident in Victoria and $200 to a Sunshine Coast offender who trespassed at a piggery &#8211; made a mockery of the seriousness of the situation.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Farmers are good, kind-hearted people just going about their daily business of feeding Australian families,&#8221; Mr Guerin said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They treat their livestock humanely and they look after the health of their animals.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It was only a week ago that activists in Victoria vowed to continue trespassing on to family farms, and now this happens in Maranoa in Queensland.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Clearly these extremists don&#8217;t feel deterred. How could you with those sorts of fines?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We need to get as serious about protecting the lives and livelihoods of the farmers who produce the food we eat every day as these terrorists are about terrifying them.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Governments have to take steps now to put an end to this escalating action before it&#8217;s too late.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AgForce has called for animal activists who illegally enter feedlots and farms to be subject to the full force of the law, saying it was only a matter of time before &#8220;a dangerous stunt&#8221; ended in serious injury or death.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":207400,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,36],"tags":[1134],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.11 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>AgForce Calls For Harsher Penalities - 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