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Proposed federal legislation to make it harder for animal welfare activists to protest on farms and at meat-processing facilities has the support of the state's peak farming group. Legislation was tabled in Parliament this month to make new offences of the incitement to trespass, cause property damage, or theft on farming properties and abattoirs through either online or printed publication. If the laws are passed, a person found guilty of promoting a protest which involved trespass onto land could receive 12 months' imprisonment. If a person was to promote an event which incited theft of an animal or property damage, a guilty sentence could carry five years' imprisonment. The laws would cover farming businesses, like chicken farms and piggeries, abattoirs, and animal saleyards. Whistle-blowers who exposed animal cruelty would be exempt from the laws. Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association chief executive Peter Skillern said protests on private Tasmanian farmland had been an issue in the past, albeit not to the same extent as recent events on the mainland. "It's an ongoing issue and there are certainly no signs that is going to change soon," he said. Mr Skillern said people that trespassed onto farms risked the safety of workers and posed biosecurity risks to animals. Animal Liberation Tasmania spokeswoman Inala Swart said the federal government's move would prevent consumers from knowing if animals were mistreated on farms. "It is another example of the government being more concerned with protecting an animal abuser's ability to make profit than the right of the public to know how the products they buy are produced," she said. "In terms of animal welfare in Tasmania, it potentially means more animal suffering will continue to go unpunished while those who uncover it and show the reality to the public will face harsher penalties." The proposed legislation will also extend to activists who went onto private forested land to protest. The state government's laws to outlaw protests on active forestry coupes were overturned by the High Court in 2017. New draft legislation was released this year to repeal or amend parts of the original legislation.

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