Attorney general asks privacy commissioner to investigate Aussie Farms and calls for boost to trespass penalties

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The attorney general has asked the privacy commissioner to investigate Aussie Farms and called on states to increase trespass penalties in response to the animal rights group.

But Coalition backbenchers including senators John Williams and James McGrath have demanded the government do more, including stripping Aussie Farms of charitable status due to concerns publication of information about farms encourages trespass.

The Aussie Farms website shows the location of hundreds of farms and abattoirs, encouraging people to upload photos or videos of animal exploitation in a bid to influence consumer choices.

Although the agriculture minister, David Littleproud, has already said he will write to the charity commissioner to review its charitable status, scrutiny on Aussie Farms intensified on Monday because of nationwide protests including by vegan activists in Melbourne.

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The National Farmers’ Federation chief executive, Tony Mahar, said that the world’s biggest action by animal rights activists had resulted in the unlawful entry of a Queensland dairy farm while meat processors in Yangan, Queensland; Goulburn, New South Wales and Laverton, Victoria were shut down for several hours.

“Farmers have endured an anxious 24 hours with the threat of farm invasions by radical extremists looming large,” he said.

“We thank the police in these states for acting quickly, and in many cases we are aware that the offenders have been charged.”

The attorney general, Christian Porter, wrote to the privacy commissioner on Monday arguing that “there are strong grounds to conclude that Aussie Farms Inc is engaging in a systematic effort in collecting, using and disclosing personal information to the detriment of farmers and agricultural producers”.

He requested the commissioner investigate whether a breach of privacy had occurred after a special regulation on Saturday applied the requirements of the Privacy Act to the group.

Porter said it appeared that Aussie Farms Inc “continues to act in a way inconsistent with its obligation under the Privacy Act and has played a significant role in spreading disruptive protest activity from Australia’s farms to our capital cities”.

Porter also asked states and territories to “consider taking action to strengthen penalties and enforcement of criminal trespass offences”.

Porter complained that “a number of farmers and associated businesses have experienced criminal trespass, intimidation and disruption of their business activities” but there had only been “a limited number of prosecutions or arrests”.

He suggested states and territories assess whether “greater enforcement action” should be taken by local police forces on what he labelled an “important issue of public safety”.

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Williams told Sky News on Monday that Aussie Farms should not have charitable status because it was not “responsible” and it was wrong to allow a “tax deduction for donations to people who are breaking the law”.

Williams said he will raise the matter with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profit Commission on Wednesday, adding that the NSW agriculture minister, Adam Marshall, will “certainly be stepping up that line” on harsher penalties for trespass.

McGrath said he would also write to the ACNC to review the charitable status, labelling it “outrageous” that donations could be used to “effectively commit criminal acts”.

Aussie Farms is registered as a charity with the purpose of preventing or relieving the suffering of animals.

Aussie Farms has said that the Privacy Act is “irrelevant” to its map and has not been breached by publication of information about farms.

In a statement it accused Littleproud of “smoke and mirrors to keep consumers in the dark and keep the conversation away from what’s happening to animals every day inside Australian farms and slaughterhouses”.