Expose Cruelty - Let the Cameras In

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Support the Greens bill for mandatory CCTV in abattoirs.

NSW Greens MP, Cate Faehrmann, is running a campaign to make CCTV compulsory in NSW abattoirs in an effort to minimise cruelty to animals in the meat industry.

We have all seen the sickening cruelty that takes place behind closed doors in abattoirs. We have seen Australia’s ‘live exports’ suffer in Indonesia and we have seen it in multiple exposés here in Australia.

Animal Liberation and Animals Australia have worked with whistleblowers using undercover cameras to bring routine horrific acts of cruelty to light in several Australian abattoirs.

The RSPCA is currently in court prosecuting one case that took place at an abattoir at Wilberforce, western Sydney in February 2012. In that case, cows were repeatedly bashed over the head with a metal rod and sheep were still alive and thrashing for agonising minutes after their throats were cut. Whistleblowers have to risk their personal safety and employment to secretly record and expose these cruelties.

It shouldn’t be this way. The NSW Food Authority should require mandatory CCTV in all abattoirs and should regularly inspect the footage. That way there are no ‘closed doors’ and consumers will be able to have confidence that animal welfare laws and standards are being complied with at all times – not just when the auditor visits.

Animal welfare organisations have called for this for a long time, several supermarket chains in Europe demand it of their suppliers and, while some meat processing companies have installed CCTV voluntarily, the NSW Government failed to include it in their response to the Wilberforce abattoir exposé last year. The Greens will act to stamp out such cruelty and I have given notice of a bill to make CCTV mandatory in all NSW abattoirs and knackeries.

Please help Cate persuade the government to support the legislation by writing to the Primary Industries Minister, the Hon Katrina Hodgkinson.

You can send a letter in support at http://catefaehrmann.org/2013/02/expose-cruelty-let-the-cameras-in/