Aussie farmer shuts down vegan activist Tash Peterson in heated debate
An Australian farmer is being celebrated for telling a well-known vegan activist she is “talking a load of s***” in a heated debate.
A high-profile vegan activist has been charged with trespass as a heated debate between West Australian farmers and vegan activists is doing the rounds on social media.
Tash Peterson — known for her dramatic protests at restaurants, McDonald’s, KFC and Coles — was on Friday charged by West Australian police over a clash with a Perth chef.
WA Police said a 29-year-old woman from Bicton was charged with trespass, remained in vicinity of licensed premises and disorderly behaviour in a public place over the incident on June 30.
As diners were enjoying their meals at restaurant Fyre about 6.30pm, Ms Peterson and a group of fellow vegan activists stormed the eatery, brandishing placards with pro-vegan messages and loudly played vision of pigs being euthanised.
“It will be alleged the woman refused to leave the premises when asked to do so by staff,” WA Police said in media release.
“It will be further alleged she acted in a disorderly manner,” referring to alleged verbal barbs traded with Mr Mountain.
Ms Peterson has been charged by summons to appear in Joondalup Magistrates Court on August 7.
It comes as a video showing Ms Peterson and her activist boyfriend Jack Higgs in a debate where they accused farmers of animal abuse.
“It is more than abuse, it is the largest holocaust in history with 3 trillion individuals brutally murdered every year,” Ms Peterson claimed at the end of her introduction before being cut off by goat dairy farmer John Martin.
“You’ve never been to my place,” Mr Martin, who runs Caprino Farm in Perth, interjected.
“How do you know?” Ms Peterson said.
“Because if you had, you’d know that you’re talking a load of s***,” the farmer said, prompting laughter from the live audience.
He went on to reject claims Ms Peterson had made in her introduction about the dairy industry.
“For a start, we don’t rape our animals,” he said.
“Yes, you use euphemisms such as ‘artificial insemination’, which is rape,” Ms Peterson argued.
Mr Martin continued: “I don’t use artificial insemination. I run my bucks with my herd. My bucks get the girls when the girls are in season and only then, and it’s their choice. Nature’s choice.
“We allow our kids to stay on their mother, we only take the excess milk so you’re talking a load of s***.”
Mr Martin said he killed and ate the goats when they were no longer producing milk at about 16 or 17 years old.
Mr Martin told news.com.au he believed since doing the debate, misinformation about his farm that had been circulated by activists online – including pictures of goats that weren’t his – had been shut down.
He claimed activists shaming his farm “had no idea about our practices”.
“I will admit our practices in the commercial goat industry are unique and we’ve tried to instil it in other people and we’re not going to give up on teaching other people our way,” Mr Martin said, adding he does not like factory farms and wishes there were more small boutique farmers.
“I don’t care what people’s beliefs are, just don’t force them on other people,” he said.
He added he believed fines and good behaviour bonds for activists’ illegal activities were not working, and jail time needed to be considered.
Host Hammad Chaudhry, who describes himself as a film producer and a relationship coach, was one of the people to reshare clips of the March debate in the last week, asking the public who won.
Commenters on his TikTok were overwhelmingly in support of the farmer.
“This is why I get really annoyed at vegans. I don’t care what you eat, you have a choice on what you wanna eat, don’t bother me but don’t force people,” wrote one person.
“Farmer wins … we love this man,” another said.
“What about all the mice and bugs that are killed for vegan food? It’s more than cows, sheep and goats combined. But they don’t matter to vegans,” one person argued.
Another clip posted this week on TikTok showed the farmers and vegan activists debating how animal populations would be controlled if the world stopped eating meat.
“What you’ve mentioned here is a very hypothetical scenario,” Ms Peterson argued.
“The reality is that the world is not going to go vegan or at least plant-based overnight, it’s a gradual process of supply and demand … and that means the increase demand for plant-based foods will increase the demand for vegan options, and the decreased demand for animal products would mean less animals are being bred into existence.
“It’s not like the world is suddenly going to go vegan and there’s billions of animals just existing. Less would be bred into existence.”
This week Ms Peterson said she had been barred from all licensed venues in her home state for a year after a stoush with a celebrity chef who banned vegans from his restaurant last month.
She said it would not stop her protests.
On Thursday, Ms Peterson told a New Zealand radio station she would “possibly” return to the chef’s Perth restaurant, Fyre, to protest for a third time.
“I will never stop speaking up for non-human animals,” she told the station.
“Whether I go back to his restaurant, that’s a possibility, but I’m always going to be targeting places that are contributing to the largest holocaust in history.”
— with NCA Newswire
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