Sam McMahon (NT, Country Liberal Party) | Hansard source

This is not my first speech. Imagine, if you will, that you're a farmer, grazier or primary producer. You live on your property with your family and are assisted by a couple of people from the local town. You are running a beef herd. It's been in your family for three generations and you work very hard to maintain the health, welfare, production and genetics of your herd. You're progressive. You have regular veterinary visits. In fact, you were one of the first in the district to sign up for the Australian Cattle Veterinarians welfare check and biocheck programs, as you know the value of your herd. You maintain strict biosecurity on the property. Visitors come to the house only and clean and disinfect before accessing any animal areas.

Imagine you wake up early one morning and there's a commotion outside. You hear the cattle making a lot of noise and some clanging of gates. You rush outside to find a group of over 500 people, some wearing disguises and costumes, storming all over your paddocks, causing the cattle to flee and crash into and through gates and fences. Some of these people are menacing your house. Some appear to have weapons in their hands. You're torn between defending your home and family and defending your cattle. You see some of the mob grab some calves and start making off with them. These are your embryo transfer calves worth tens of thousands of dollars, and they also represent the future of your herd. Some of the invaders are yelling that they have material infected with foot-and-mouth disease and are going to spread it on your property. This will wipe out your entire herd or your neighbours', or the whole district. It is estimated this would cost Australia $50 billion. The police or any responders are at least half an hour away. Imagine what could happen in half an hour. There are vulnerable family and workers on the property. They are terrified. This is not only your business but your home.

And all for what? You've done nothing wrong. You care immensely for your animals. You've broken no laws. You operate on best practice and exceed industry standards. Why you? Because you were randomly selected from a map, by some hairy, smelly greenie in Sydney, who then incited a mob to target you for the purpose of making a political statement. Is this fair or right? No, it isn't. The invaders themselves are bad enough, and they will, hopefully, face the judicial system and, hopefully, receive more than a $1 fine. But what about the inner-city greenie who targeted you and incited and organised the mob? Shouldn't they face judgement and receive a punitive sentence of at least as much as, if not more than, the invaders themselves? After all, without this person the invasion would never have happened.

In my home of the Northern Territory, properties are very isolated. It can be more than six hours to the nearest police assistance and several hours to any neighbours at all. Most properties are owned or managed by a family, with small numbers of onsite workers. People are very genuinely concerned by the thought of what could happen if activists invaded and are very worried about the outcome should they be pushed to the point of retaliation. These are terrifying scenarios and by no means wild fantasies. Similar scenes have happened and are currently being threatened against farmers around the country. Livestock are being terrified, stampeded, placed in dangerous situations, maimed, killed and stolen in these invasions. I personally heard from a pig farmer recently about how an activist invasion onto a farm had resulted in miscarriages due to stress, and the death of piglets. Deliberate damage to infrastructure had allowed piglets to escape and drown in sewage ponds. This is what the Greens want to see happen: baby pigs drowning in effluent.

It's not just the welfare issues for people and animals; there are real biosecurity considerations, for both endemic and emergency diseases. African swine fever, foot-and-mouth disease and West Nile virus are just some of the diseases that could be brought into the country and unleashed on a farm, with devastating consequences for Australia. Most farms have strict biosecurity protocols, and many are specific pathogen free. Everything is cleaned and disinfected, and there are barriers to potential pests such as rats and mice. Invaders do not understand or observe these protocols, leading to very real risks, not just to the farm but to the industry and to Australia.

This legislation provides a great deterrent to people wanting to carry out these activities by organising and inciting others. It also seeks to ensure that those responsible are able to be held to account and face the judiciary. I fully support this bill.