Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Minister for Agriculture) | Hansard source

In the effort to maintain a peaceful and orderly Senate, Temporary Chair Bernardi, I shall address my remarks through you. I wanted to assure Senator Whish-Wilson that this bill doesn't deal with trespass, because this place can't deal with trespass. This bill deals with those who would seek to incite others to criminal activity. If they're seeking to incite people to criminal activity, which is trespass, harassment, intimidation, biosecurity risks, damaging stock, damaging property—criminal activities—then they will be charged. On the issue you speak about with respect to the forests, as Senator Watt said earlier, 'Don't let the facts get in the way of a good emotional argument from the Greens.' I have to agree with my good friend Senator Watt. We don't agree on much but we do agree on this.

The idea, as you stand up in this place and say, that the bill before us and the amendment before us will somehow decimate our world-class forestry management system, the sustainable harvesting of beautiful Australian hardwood and plantation forest, is an absolute crock—an absolute crock. It does not do that at all. What this bill does is criminalise inciting others onto private property to damage property, so people can go about their lawful business. To suggest it's going to shut down our beautiful World Heritage areas or somehow stop people lawfully and peacefully protesting and expressing their views in this country, again, is not true. It is not what the bill says or does; the bill is about those who seek to incite others to behave illegally.

Finally, on your issue of the piggery in Scottsdale, quite frankly I think it says more about the RSPCA in Tasmania than anything else—that they didn't take seriously a genuine animal welfare issue that was brought to them in a timely manner. It should have been taken seriously. They should have acted. That is why they're a source trusted by communities around the country on animal welfare issues. But, no surprise, it happens to be the weekend they're not interested in actually prosecuting what they're set up to do. Again, trespass is a state law issue, and I think state governments need to—as I said in my comments—ensure their trespass regime is robust enough and has protection around disclosure of information, particularly around animal welfare issues. But they also need to ensure that there are hefty fines and that our judiciary, instead of handing out a $1 fine for somebody that closed down a law-abiding business, actually seeks to uphold the law in meaningful ways. I hope that's of assistance to the Senate.