Over the past 10 years, Farm Transparency Project has entered over one hundred Australian slaughterhouses, factory farms and knackeries, revealing the horror within to an often stunned public. Yet, Australian slaughter industries, including meat, dairy and eggs, continue to lie to consumers, claiming that what happens behind the closed doors of farms and slaughterhouses can somehow be humane.
We won’t rest until we reveal the depth of the systemic and inherent animal abuse in the animal slaughter industry - abuse that is completely unnecessary, especially given the vast array of easily accessible plant-based alternatives.
Over 2023 and 2024, we will investigate, expose and release new footage from 30 Australian slaughterhouses, exposing the brutal final moments of animals bred for food in this country.
It’s time for a national conversation about the mass suffering we’re inflicting on animals and whether that could ever align with our values, when most Australians consider themselves animal-lovers and when there’s already such a vast array of easily-accessible plant-based alternatives.
What we want
Legal protection for farmed animals
Most of what is done to farmed animals in farms and slaughterhouses is only legal because of outdated exemptions to our animal welfare laws which mean that what would be illegal if it was done to a dog or a cat, is legal when done to a pig or a cow. We are calling for complete legal protection for farmed animals, which would mean an immediate end to the commercial breeding, confinement and slaughter of all animals bred for food.
A just transition to slaughter-free food production
The technology which would allow us to transition away from commercialised animal slaughter already exists. With emerging technology and innovation in the plant-based food sector, we are more than capable of feeding our country without suffering and violence. Our government needs to move away from meat, dairy and eggs, and towards slaughter free food production. This includes:
-
Investing in plant-based food production.
-
Redirecting the millions of dollars in public funding, which currently funds the meat, dairy and egg industries, away from slaughter-based food production and into plant-based alternatives
-
Supporting vulnerable workers to escape the slaughter industry. Developing a just transition for workers in these violent industries, linked to high levels of mental illness and brutality, into alternative roles.
-
An independent review of the animal slaughter industry’s ability to self-regulate
Our investigations have shown time and time again that, when left to their own devices, industries that breed, confine and kill animals for food will lie, cheat and deceive rather than take accountability for the suffering that they cause. We want an independent review into the meat, dairy and egg industries' own codes of practice, which reviews their adequacy in protecting the interests and wellbeing of animals, as well as the ability to enforce them.
