Aussie Farms aka Farm Transparency Project: Activists court battle on hidden cameras

Animal activists are collecting donations to support a legal battle to overturn laws prohibiting hidden cameras on farms and abattoirs.

Controversial animal activist group Farm Transparency Project – formerly known as Aussie Farms – is crowd-funding a High Court bid to overturn NSW laws which prohibit hidden cameras on farms and in abattoirs.

Under the NSW Surveillance Devices Act, secretly capturing a video or publishing said video carries fines of up to $55,000 for corporations and in any other case, fines up to $11,000 or five years jail, or both.

Farm Transparency Project, which had its charity status stripped in 2019, argues the laws breach Australia’s “implied freedom of political communication”.

“Challenging the constitutional validity of one such law is the only way to stop them once and for all,” a statement on the activist group’s website said.

“We’ve put together an incredible legal team comprising a QC, a barrister and two solicitors, to make sure we’ve got the best possible chance of winning the case.”

It said a donor had offered to match the first $75,000 raised to support the legal action.

“Together, we can fight to ensure that exposing animal cruelty doesn’t come with a jail term.”

As of this morning, the group had raised just over $7,000 from 110 people.

Aussie Farms/Farm Transparency Project director Chris Delforce. Picture: Aaron Francis/The Australian

Federal laws were introduced in 2019 making it illegal to use a carriage service, such as the internet, to incite trespass, property damage or livestock theft, with penalties of up to 12 months and five years jail time respectively.

At the time, Aussie Farms/Farm Transparency Project director Chris Delforce vowed to go all the way to the High Court to avoid having his website shut down – which includes a map pinpointing thousands of farms and agriculture businesses.

“If we are charged for merely publishing footage or information (including the map) about animal cruelty, we will fight it all the way to the High Court and there is a strong precedent that we will win,” he said.

Animal activist group Aussie Farms’ map launched in January 2019.

The group has been under investigation for breach of the Privacy Act for 19 months, with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner beginning to make its “inquiries” seven months before that.

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