MEDIA RELEASE: 17th SEPTEMBER 2019
‘RIGHT TO FARM’ BILL TO BE RENAMED ‘RIGHT TO HARM’ BILL, SAYS ANIMAL JUSTICE PARTY MP
Animal Justice Party MP Emma Hurst has slammed the Right to Farm Bill* that has been tabled by the NSW Government today, declaring that if the Bill reaches the Upper House, one of her first amendments will be to change its name to the Right to Harm Bill.
“This new Right to Harm Bill, as it should truthfully be called, is another attempt by this Government to stifle transparency and silence members of the community,” said Ms Hurst.
“The Bill is designed to silence advocates and community members that live nearby agribusiness facilities. It aims to ensure that animal cruelty, unsafe hygiene practices, environmental hazards, and inhumane working conditions in the intensive animal agriculture industry remain behind closed doors, and go undetected and unreported.
“In a new low for this Government, the Bill seeks to stop neighbours of animal agribusiness facilities from speaking out and taking legal action in respect of the myriad of issues known to be associated with living near a factory farm.
“These are intensive agriculture facilities that imprison tens of thousands of animals at any given time, meaning there is often a consistently high amount of animal-waste, dead bodies of animals decaying before they can be disposed of and infestations of rats. These conditions are known to create serious odour issues, cause environmental damage and create an unsafe and unhygienic living environment for those living around the property.
“This latest move by the NSW Agriculture Minister will see home-owners silenced and stripped of the ability to protect their right to live in a peaceful, healthy environment in their own home.
“This Bill harms the community, harms animals and harms the environment. If the Bill makes it to the Upper House, I will be doing everything I can to fight against it.”
*The Right to Farm Bill will make trespass on farms punishable by up to three years jail time, and restrict the right of property owners to bring nuisance claims against neighbouring farms in respect of disturbances such as pollution, odour and noise - https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/bills/Pages/bill-details.aspx?pk=3670
This Bill is on top of the other ag-gag laws introduced by the NSW and Federal Government over the past two months, including the Biosecurity Amendment (Biosecurity Management Plans) Regulation 2019 (NSW) and the Criminal Code Amendment (Agricultural Protection) Bill 2019 (Cth).
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