Minister for Agriculture David Littleproud has called on state governments to review and beef up trespass laws following the Aussie farms personal address scandal.
He said preliminary advice indicated there was little the Federal Government could do bout animal welfare group Aussie Farms putting the personal addresses of thousands of farmers online – but state governments can adjust trespass and other criminal laws as they see fit.
“Farmers around Australia are concerned for themselves and their children,” Minister Littleproud said.
“No-one would like the address of their family home put up online for all to see. There are plenty of nutters out there and who knows what one of them will do.
“State Governments need to make sure trespass laws carry huge penalties. A big deterrent is required here.
“It’s not ok to go breaking into people’s businesses or homes.
“The risk of trespass and farm vandalism is higher since this website went up and state governments need to respond with laws that punish trespassers and vigilantes.
“Plenty of information on this website has already been proven wrong and it would only take one idiot to act on information from this website for a tragedy to occur.”
Source: Minister for Agriculture
On our 6,000 Ha Farm we had many trespassers over the years. Notifying police we got the following answers; You have to give the trespassers 3 notices to leave and if they don’t we can prosecute them, the trespasser is a restaurant owner and if he get prosecuted he will have a criminal record we can’t do that, we don’t know if the trespasser is the owner of the vehicle, current case; 2 month ago with 4 4WD (all rigged up for serious bush bashing, and 4 blokes who entered our property with all the signs keep out/private property/ private road drove in over 18 km of private road and cut the padlock at the other end before getting caught, have not heard from the police not even after numerous requests how the case is going. Burglaries are rife in this area and we might be next.. New technologies like battery powered angle grinders and drones are making it easier for criminals to operate, as we experienced. Because of the ineffective legislation as well as the lack of action from the police Farm, crime will increase out of proportion if nothing gets done. We have other things to do than waste time to chase trespassers, talk to the police and work out how we can stop this. I sincerely hope that Farmers lobbies can get this changed. Thanks,
Martin