10 May How the Victorian Legislative Assembly voted on #AgGag
Before we began our #StopVicAgGag campaign directed at the Victoria Legislative Council, Vic Labor’s Ag-Gag Bill had already passed the Assembly – where it was introduced right before the end of year break.
The Bill was supported by every single member of the lower house, except all three Greens members. That included all Labor, all Liberal and all Nationals members, along with all three lower house independents. Whilst the Labor Minister for Agriculture Mary-Anne Thomas MP went against the findings of her own party’s Inquiry as she introduced the Bill – lying to justify the amendments, Greens member for Melbourne Ellen Sandell MP rose to speak against the discriminatory legislation. These are just some excerpts taken from the many important points she raised.
“It is a bill that is supposedly about biosecurity, but when you actually look at the detail, really using that term biosecurity is just a bit of a smokescreen for the government to introduce new laws to crack down on animal activists who are trying to put a spotlight on the horrible way that we often do treat the animals that we kill and eat.”
“It is a bit disappointing that we see those three parties, Labor, Liberal and The Nationals, in lockstep on this and supporting big industry and big business over animal welfare, but that is where we are at.”
“I think also one of the concerns that we have is that it could be a step down a pretty slippery slope towards criminalising very specific forms of activism. So if we say that it is okay to single out animal activists for a new offence, who is to say that we will not then later say it is okay to single out other activist groups for very specific and additional punishment?”
“At the end of the day it is important to remember that activists are just community members who are concerned enough to go and take action, at personal risk, when they see something that they believe is gravely wrong.”
“That is how change has been made throughout history, and a lot of us in this place stand up and commend a lot of the change that has been made in history because of activists. Let us not lose sight of that.”
“It is not really surprising, unfortunately, to me that the government has introduced these new penalties. I know that a law and order approach is often the first go-to of this government where it can, but having the heaviest fines in the nation targeting activists, targeting whistleblowers, targeting community members for standing up for what they believe is right—I do not personally think that is something that Victoria should be proud of or that this Labor government should be proud of. In a democracy when we see something that we believe is cruel, that we believe is clearly and obviously wrong, that is hurting people or animals, we actually do have the right to protest and to campaign for change. It is only dictators and authoritarian regimes that try and squash that right.”
Whilst we do not support all of what is said in Ms Sandell’s full speech (available here) and we remain perplexed and disillusioned as to how the Greens can support animal agriculture of any form, we most certainly must give credit where it is due and are thankful to have these members in Parliament who not only voted for what is right, but spoke out against the authoritarian state both sides of parliament across the country are bringing to pass right before our eyes.
On February 10 2022, after much horrid lies and rhetoric was spouted by other MP’s in the chamber, 85 lower house MP’s stood behind animal abusers and voted to severely penalise those who expose them. Each and every one of them has the terrified screams of every pig trapped in the barren darkness, the excruciating pain of every chicken who tries to take a step, the cries of every mother who has her baby stolen and the blood of every single innocent animal who is forced along the slaughter line, fighting for every last breath and pleading for mercy, on their hands. Sadly it appears it will not be on their conscience as they clearly do not have one. We need a drastic and urgent shift away from the types of people who make up the majority of those who hold power at all levels of government. The status quo is a growing disaster for us all – humans, other animals and our shared planet.
Our summary on the upper house debate available here.
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