(Update, 30 September 2019)

The state government wants to protect the agricultural industry by stopping neighbours initiating nuisance complaints for legitimate environmental pollution like noise and chemical drift and creating new offences and increasing penalties for animal activists undertaking covert operations.

Animal protection groups play a vital role in uncovering significant cruelty on agricultural facilities; a better way to discourage them from trespassing would be to increase resources to oversight bodies like the RSPCA to follow up complaints and do regular unannounced inspections, and to make CCTV cameras mandatory in facilities. I opposed the bill. The real threats to our agricultural industry are climate change, mining, soil erosion, and poor strategic planning. My speech:  HERE

The Right to Farm Bill may also impact on people’s ability to protest on forestry land or make political comments that could be seen as inciting someone to trespass. See the article in the Guardian: HERE

I welcome the upper house’s referral to a committee. The time to comment is very short – due tomorrow Tuesday 1 October. I encourage you to make a submission: HERE