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Speeches Agriculture | March 07, 2019

Constituency questions - Lowan Electorate - Farm trespass

Victorian Parliament - 7 March 2019 - Ms KEALY (Lowan) (11:41:35): (251) My question is to the Minister for Agriculture, and the information I seek is an outline of the actions taken by the Andrews Labor government to provide stronger legal protections to appropriately penalise aggressive protesters and trespassers who threaten or encourage damage to property or incite trespass and biosecurity breaches to property and an outline of what state government funding is available to assist farmers to enhance on-farm security to address the increased threat of trespass by extreme animal activists to help farmers meet strict biosecurity requirements. Local farmers are extremely concerned that the increased activity by animal activists is putting the safety and welfare of their stock at risk. They also feel that the ongoing threats by extreme animal activists are a threat to their family and property and feel abandoned by the lack of action by the Andrews Labor government. Our farmers are doing the right thing and are being unfairly targeted by extreme animal activists. They need our support and protection. I therefore ask the minster what actions she has taken to address this critical issue for our local farmers.