“The Australian wool industry is already notorious for its barbaric treatment of sheep,” it says.
PETA want to shut our sheep and wool industry down and send farmers back to on-farm poverty because PETA believe their belief gives them unrestrained license to do this. Why should we allow farmers who spend their time nurturing a flock, for the noble cause of clothing and feeding people to be labelled by this group with this insult?
For the farmers who watch their flock, treat them for parasites to keep them healthy; who feed sheep in drought whilst their family goes without; who treat the insidious actions of fly strike which, if untreated, has the animal eaten alive by maggots.
“The argument of PETA is to portray the exceptional as the generality to discredit the whole industry - the car crash as a reason to ban cars, the assault to ban alcohol, the mistreatment of an animal as the reason to shut farming.”
These farmers do not need PETA to turn up as an unauthorised judge, jury and executioner on their private property.
PETA paper over the gaping hole that surreptitiously filming people when you are not the police nor RSPCA is against the law. If we allow someone based on their world view to step outside the law then why not let others do it in your private residence or other places of work such as doctor’s surgery?
Everyone who has a cause will have a right to break the law to pursue it.
Changing the description of enforcing break-and-enter laws to “ag-gag” laws does not give it legality. There are so many bodies in the community who would like to borrow from that code of ethics book for their pet cause.
No farmer condones the actions of hitting sheep but why did PETA, if they are only doing it for the animals benefit, hold on to the footage so as to maximise political benefit to their organisation rather than immediately hand it over for the benefit of the animal?
To find that the world is partly populated with cruel people or people who at their weaker moments, when under pressure, do something cruel is not laudable, but neither is it unusual. If person kicks a dog it is not a reason to ban pets. The argument of PETA is to portray the exceptional as the generality to discredit the whole industry - the car crash as a reason to ban cars, the assault to ban alcohol, the mistreatment of an animal as the reason to shut farming.
“As cotton in Australia is 99% genetically modified from fields cleared of trees and synthetics are predominantly based on oil that incites global warming, we are really left in a quandary as to what on earth we wear in a world governed by the moral code of PETA?”
They say they observed 19 sheds and observed cruelty “at every single one”. Of course we just have to believe them though none of their evidence, if collected without permission or the authority of law, is admissible in court. Besides that, we have not seen the evidence. But the effect of emotional shock and awe campaign adds to the purpose of shutting down the livelihoods of others on the land.
“No amount of fluff can hide the fact there is simply no such thing as humane wool” so says PETA. As cotton in Australia is 99% genetically modified from fields cleared of trees and synthetics are predominantly based on oil that incites global warming, we are really left in a quandary as to what on earth we wear in a world governed by the moral code of PETA?
The reality is (and I grew up in the industry) wool growers are overwhelmingly extremely decent people in a great industry with a great product, and shearing is generally recognised as one of the most physically demanding manual jobs in the country.
The sheep industry, as displayed through the paintings of Tom Roberts, is not that of some psychopathic gulag as PETA would have us believe. Ermenegildo Zegna is not the agent or benefactor of some perverse form of Staley Kubrick horror theme park.
The sheep industry will continue to weed those without the patience or temperament to be shearers. PETA will continue their task of trying to create a world where we don’t eat meat or wear wool, but the agricultural sector will continue to grow and provide a decent living to decent people on the land, despite them.
Australia is turning around our agricultural future where we supply a quality product to a discerning Asian middle class. For the March quarter we are over 19 per cent up on the previous March quarter of agricultural exports by value from this nation. We have record sales of beef, record prices for mutton, good prices for sugar, and great interest in and a great price for dairy.
For once there is a future for people who grew up on the land to go back to the land.
Barnaby Joyce is the Member for New England, the Deputy Leader of the Nationals and the Minister for Agriculture.
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