Shadow Agriculture Minister Peter Walsh has urged the Victorian government to stop delaying new amendments that would see increased fines for anyone who trespasses on farming properties.
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The Livestock Management Amendment (Animal Activism) Bill 2021 will look to impose on-the-spot fines of $1272 for an individual and $8178 for an organisation who breaches a farm's biosecurity management plan.
But Mr Walsh had introduced amendments to increase those fine amounts at the last parliamentary sittings, but they were blocked by the Victorian government and the Greens.
"Stopping these amendments is a move that will only embolden the extreme law-breaking activists these farm trespass laws were supposed to deter," Mr Walsh said.
He said that NSW and Queensland quickly introduced strong protections against farm trespassers after Aussie Farms, who have now changed their name to the Farm Transparency Project, had its charity status revoked after creating a website that targeted producers.
"But here in Victoria, our farmers waited almost three years for Labor's Agriculture Minister Mary-Anne Thomas to finally introduce the Livestock Management (Animal Activism) Bill 2021 in the last parliamentary sitting week of 2021," he said.
Mr Walsh also criticised an exclusion of a farmer's Crown land river frontage lease land from protections under the laws.
"When we saw the detail of the bill, it was clear why the minister had taken so long to act," he said.
Ms Thomas accused Mr Walsh of misleading farmers and having a lack of understanding on the legislation.
"Crown river frontages which have been leased by farmers are in fact included in these laws and may be subject to a Biosecurity Management Plan," she said.
"The amendment to the legislation put forward by the Nationals would apply to licensed, not leased land.
"Far from impacting animal activists, this would actually restrict public access to river fronts for activities such as fishing."
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She also said Victoria's fines for trespassing would be harsher than fines of $1000 in NSW or fines of $689 in Queensland.
"Additionally, Victoria is the only state in Australia that proposes a specific infringement offence for an organisation," she said.
"Farmers and workers in the agricultural industry should be able to do their work without fear of being targeted by animal activists.
"This sort of activity is highly distressing for farming families and puts the biosecurity and safety of the animals that activists purport to protect at risk."
Ms Thomas said the state government's legislation delivered a strong deterrent making it "crystal clear that this behaviour is unacceptable."
