Offending Tasmanian abattoirs must face consequences, bodies say

Activists and industry bodies agree on this: Tasmanian abattoirs cannot continue to get away with animal cruelty.

Eleven protesters staged a nine-hour vigil on Tuesday outside Cressy's Tasmanian Quality Meats - one of five slaughterhouses at the centre of animal cruelty allegations.

Those involved intended to stage a peaceful protest while disrupting new stock coming into the slaughteryards.

TasFarmers said it didn't support the protest, but agreed the recent allegations marked a line in the sand for the meat processing industry.

"Everyone's on the same page on this one," TasFarmers president Ian Sauer said.

"If those abattoirs and meatworks can't comply with the Animal Welfare Act and do it properly, we don't want them in the industry."

Footage emerged last month of alleged animal abuse in five Tasmanian slaughterhouses, leading the state government to form a taskforce to tackle the issue.

The group has already met twice, and will report to parliament in March.

Mr Sauer said there could be no more second chances for those who do the wrong thing.

"In the future, yes, absolutely. No question about it," he said.

"If farmers break the law or the average person breaks the law there are consequences - just because you're an abattoir owner doesn't mean you can negate those consequences.

"If there are breaches, then they're out of the game."

Protesters Dan Spice, Catherine Webster, Eliza Allan, Isabel Minanya and Gabby Knox outside Tasmanian Quality Meats. Picture by Rod Thompson

TasFarmers says the government taskforce is the best way to tackle the problem, but not everyone agrees.

Chris Delforce is executive director of Farm Transparency Project, the group that installed the hidden cameras inside the five slaughterhouses.

Mr Delforce said he had been disheartened to see animals still being mistreated in Tasmania.

"It's disheartening to see there are still dozens of calves going through not being stunned properly or at all, sheep being hit, kicked and dragged off the road into the slaughter line," he said.

"I was here seven or eight years ago investigating this place [TQM].

"We put hidden cameras in back then in 2016 and we saw workers beating sheep and calves, animals not being stunned properly - pretty awful treatment.

"We made a formal complaint at the time and we heard very similar things to what we're hearing now - there was going be action taken, it was being investigated - and nothing came of it, no charges laid.

"We're hearing the same kind of response from the government and we don't have the faith that anything is going to change."

Farm Transparency Project executive director Chris Delforce. Picture by Rod Thompson

Both Mr Delforce and Mr Sauer said watching the footage secured by Farm Transparency Project had been distressing.

Mr Delforce said he understood most meat workers would have little choice but to mentally "switch off" in their roles.

"I think it's impossible to do this job and connect with the animals ... you'd lose your mind," he said.

"We go through a similar thing when you're watching this footage - we have to disconnect otherwise it's too much, it's unbearable.

"So I think that's exactly what workers have to do. You're not seeing them as thinking, feeling animals who feel pain and suffer, you're seeing them as commodities, units of stock and if you damage one here or there it doesn't matter to the bottom line."

TQM announced last month that two workers had been fired following the release of the footage, and committed to monitoring CCTV cameras installed before the incident.

However, Mr Delforce said abattoirs in breach of the Animal Welfare Act must be subject to harsher punishments.

"I think it shows that even when a place like this is so clearly in breach and they're allowed to continue operating, it's just not something that the government or industry takes seriously," he said.

"People need to decide for themselves if this is an industry and level of cruelty they're willing to fund when they purchase meat and dairy and other animal products."

Hamish Geale is a senior reporter at The Examiner.nGot good news? Email: [email protected]

Hamish Geale is a senior reporter at The Examiner.nGot good news? Email: [email protected]