Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Hansard source

The Greens will actually have an opportunity to stand up for Australian farmers when the changes to the Criminal Code around agricultural protections and farm activists' illegal activities come to the Senate. I look forward to them supporting us in that.

The front page of The Weekly Times today goes to a Victorian farmer whose family was harassed multiple times over several weeks, to the point of having to actually take the decision to quit farming. He said, 'They had hoodies on and we couldn't see their faces.' He said that 70 activists broke into their farm and that this had an ongoing effect on the mental health, in particular, of his family. The impact was that more than 300 chickens—the stock—actually suffocated as a result of those animal activists' actions. Enough is enough. For us to actually grow this industry, increase regional jobs in our communities, we need to support our farmers and stop these illegal acts, instead of encouraging them as Senator Di Natale did on Insiders this week. (Time expired)