But now to Australia’s favourite past time, backyard barbeques and roasting vegans:

CORY BERNARDI: The fish-aphobes and the vegan fascists are everywhere. They’re trying to get us. It’s not like we’re slaughtering goats, we’re just barbequing meat. MICHAEL KROGER: … Paul, I wanted to attack the vegan. PAUL MURRAY: Go, Michael Kroger, please! Notes to one side! Go for it! - Paul Murray Live, Sky News, 3 September, 2019

That, of course, was Paul Murray Live on Sky After Dark, with Cory Bernardi and Michael Kroger.

So, what triggered this latest vegan pile-on? Well, it all started with this exclusive on Nine’s Perth news:

MICHAEL THOMSON: A Perth vegan has taken her neighbours all the way to the Supreme Court, demanding they stop smoking, bouncing balls and even cooking barbeques in the backyard. - Nine News (Perth), 2 September, 2019

It was a pretty ordinary spat between neighbours. With a raft of complaints. But Nine dubbed the court dispute:

ELIZABETH CREASY: ... the battle between a vegan and meat-eaters. A health conscious massage therapist and the barbequers next door. CILLA CARDEN: They’ve put it so you smell fish. - Nine News (Perth), 2 September, 2019

Yep. The story had all the ingredients to drive media outrage.

And soon Cilla Carden the vegan was being used as a punching bag on national TV:

LUKE GRAHAM: … she’s got an AVO — the old Antagonised Vegan Order. And she’s suffering from SDS — sausage deprivation syndrome. - Credlin, Sky News, 3 September, 2019

AMBER SHERLOCK: It’s even fish, it’s not even red meat. Lisa, surely this is unAustralian? Everyone has a right to have a barbeque in their own backyard. LISA FERNANDEZ: I so wish she was from the eastern states so I can have a really big go at her. ...what we’re going to find though, is any story about vegans now is going to make the news, right, because vegans are being really outspoken about things, they’re on this vegan movement. - Nine News Now, 3 September, 2019

Lisa’s not wrong about making news. And the Daily Mail didn’t disappoint, pumping out four articles with headlines like:

Meat and greet! Militant vegan who took her neighbours to court over their smelly cooking … - Daily Mail, 4 September, 2019

In another story, the Mail claimed Carden wore a “leather skirt” in the interview with Nine. Which, as you can see, is complete bullshit.

But by then the media weren’t the only ones on the attack. Punters had got the pitchforks out as well, using Facebook to promote a community barbeque to shame Carden in her own backyard and even publishing her home address.

Which prompted more vegan bashing from the media and reader comments like this one in the Daily Mail:

What did she expect? Taking people to court for cooking on their own property. You deserve everything you get! - Facebook comment, Daily Mail, 6 September, 2019

And this one on News.com.au:

This vegan is just acting up because she knows theres a particular cut of meat missing from her life that she feels herself needing...... No batteries included. - Facebook comment, News.com.au, 5 September, 2019

It was vile stuff.

And whatever you think about the merits of her case, it’s important to note that this is one of hundreds of strata disputes that end up in tribunals every year.

And that cooking smells was not Carden’s only complaint. Others included:

… noise (of small children) ... smoking odours … reflected light from patio lighting … repairs and maintenance obligations ... - Judgment, State Administrative Tribunal of Western Australia, 24 November, 2017

But all that was either lost or downplayed by reporters and commentators who wanted to beat her up for being a vegan.

Not surprisingly, Carden’s lawyer says his client has been inundated by hate mail and phone calls. And he told Media Watch:

She’s not anti-barbeque and she has no objection to people eating meat. She’s extremely emotional and distressed by it all. - Phone interview, 5 September, 2019

And who can be surprised at that?

Maybe she is a difficult neighbour. Maybe she’s not. But whatever she’s like, she does not deserve that sort of media bullying.