Vegan protester responds to accusations of ‘bullying’ Karl Stefanovic farmers
Today, show host Karl Stefanovic took aim at protesters, attacking animal protection methods and climate activists, which he described as ‘bullying’ tactics.
“These militants seem to be taking over whatever they want, and now they’re going after our farmers too,” Stefanovic said on Friday morning.
The interview shed light on farmers’ long-standing concerns about activists entering their properties to air concerns about how the animals are being housed. There is very little commonality between the two groups, an issue that Yahoo News Australia has highlighted. While the interview reinforced concerns that many farmers clearly feel, a vegan activist at the center of the controversy criticized the issues raised during the segment as a distraction from what he sees as the real issue.
Why are pig farmers unhappy with activists?
In an interview with Australian Pork Limited (APL) CEO Margot Andrae, the Today show host said militant tactics such as disrupting retail outlets and meat producers “must stop “. “Farmers are contributing and these people are clearly not,” he said.
During the interview, Ms Andre said the farmers no longer felt safe, saying the activists had “gone too far” and installed recording equipment on the properties. The segment also featured moving testimony from Ms Andrae speaking before the Senate Estimates, alleging activists used deceptive tactics to break into her office.
Controversial animal rights activist responds to TV segment
Farm Transparency Project founder Chris Delforce was particularly involved in the action that baffled Ms Andrae and her staff at the APL 10 days ago.
He also filmed disturbing video showing painfully gassed pigs at a number of Victorian slaughterhouses. His footage prompted an announcement yesterday that the Victorian Government would hold a parliamentary inquiry into the industry. Mr Delforce hailed the investigation as a “step in the right direction”.
Noting that the Today segment aired a day after the parliamentary inquiry was announced, he told Yahoo News Australia he believed the PLA was now trying to ‘get away’ from welfare issues by attacking the conduct of activists.
“They’ve been operating these cruel gas chambers for 30 years now,” he said. “Even the farmers are shocked by what the footage has revealed and are calling for change,” he continued.
Why are activists’ tactics controversial?
The Farm Transparency Project has controversially published farm addresses online, leading farmers to say they no longer feel comfortable as their family homes are often located on their properties.
Protesters also chained themselves to equipment and disrupted farming operations.
Are the militants’ tactics working?
Although controversial, the campaigners’ action has led to major changes in farming practices. In 2009, Channel Nine’s 60 Minutes aired footage taken by a Tasmanian pig advocate inside a farm where pigs were crawling with maggots, leading the industry to pressure Coles Supermarkets to that it phase out the metal and concrete sow stalls in which pigs are often housed.
A separate illegal investigation by Farm Transparency Project in 2022 found that pigs continued to be housed in sow stalls long after the industry was voluntarily phased out.
Undercover footage shot by Animals Australia and shown on 4 Corners in 2011 led to nationwide protests in capitals and a brief suspension of the live cattle export industry. It showed Australian animals treated horribly by workers in Indonesia.
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