Federal Member for Maranoa and Minister for Water Resources and Drought David Littleproud has welcomed the decision of the Charities and Not-for-profits Commission to strip Aussie Farms of its charitable status.
Mr Littleproud said Aussie Farms “runs a website listing the private details of thousands of Australian farming families and encouraging activists to take part in farm invasions”.
“This is a win for common sense,” Mr Littleproud said in a statement this week.
“As Agriculture Minister I wrote to the Charities Commissioner asking him to review Aussie Farms charitable status and he acted.
“I also worked with the Attorney-General to bring Aussie Farms under the Privacy Act with a maximum penalty of $2.1 million for breaching the act.
“Charities do not invade people’s privacy and encourage illegal behaviour.
“Our farmers deserve respect for putting the best food in the world on our dinner tables.
“These activists put farming families at risk by encouraging large-scale trespass.
“No one wants 50 strangers invading their backyard where their kids play.
“Aussie Farms will lose charity tax benefits after being exposed for what they are – militant activists.
“It’s time Aussie Farms came to their senses and took their attack map down.
“We will always stand behind our farmers and farming families who have done nothing wrong.”
Animal activist militants targeted Carey Brothers abattoir at Yangan in early April of this year.
Police were called by the management of the abattoir around 3.30am on Monday 8 April after around 20 activists entered the premises illegally and chained themselves to equipment.
They agreed to leave at 5.40am after negotiations led to management allowing them to take three lambs.
Around 100 other activists were present outside the abattoir grounds.
Members of the group then harassed a dairy farmer in the Freestone area following their invasion of the abattoir.
Police also attended that incident which also ended with no arrests or charges.
The activity was part of a ‘national day of vegan action’.
Eight of the activists who illegally entered the Carey Brothers abattoir were later fined between $400 and $600 after being convicted of trespass, with no convictions recorded.
The magistrate described their demand to take the lambs as “effectively an act of extortion”.
Federal Attorney-General, Christian Porter wrote to the privacy commissioner in April 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”.
Mr 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”.
He also asked states and territories to “consider taking action to strengthen penalties and enforcement of criminal trespass offences”.
Mr 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”.
