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The Guardian
21-04-2025
- The Guardian
Vets exposing shocking animal welfare breaches at Australian export abattoirs face ‘enormous risk'
Lawyers and animal welfare advocates have urged the government to protect veterinarian whistleblowers who revealed shocking animal welfare breaches and oversight failures at Australia's export abattoirs. The Australian government relies on a workforce of veterinarians placed inside export abattoirs to monitor animal welfare and food safety, largely to satisfy the requirements of major trading partners like the United States and European Union. Sign up for the Afternoon Update: Election 2025 email newsletter Guardian Australia revealed on Saturday that whistleblower vets have repeatedly raised the alarm about profound problems with the system, including allegations that disturbing welfare breaches were going unreported to state regulators. In some cases, shocking incidents – including the mass death of 103 sheep from hypothermia during truck transport – were referred but not punished. Whistleblowers also alleged chronic understaffing was leaving abattoirs unmonitored for long stretches, and that recent restrictions on conducting ante-mortem inspections had made it impossible for them to properly monitor animal welfare. Leaked documents show repeated warnings about the system's failings were made internally and externally – including through a formal complaint to the commonwealth ombudsman in 2019 by half the permanent government veterinarian workforce in New South Wales – and more recently through a detailed letter directly to then agriculture minister Murray Watt. The disclosures have prompted calls for the government to ensure the whistleblowers are protected from any future reprisal. The Human Rights Law Centre's whistleblower project, a legal service assisting potential whistleblowers, said it has provided advice to a number of individuals wanting to 'expose animal cruelty and related issues'. Its associate legal director Kieran Pender said the export abattoir revelations showed the importance of whistleblowers to 'truth and transparency in Australia'. 'When wrongdoing occurs behind closed doors, whistleblowers provide essential accountability,' he said. 'Without whistleblowers exposing some of the most significant incidents of animal cruelty in the agriculture sector over the past few decades, considerable reforms and policy changes would not have been implemented.' He said speaking out about wrongdoing could carry 'enormous risk' and that reforms were needed to improve protections and establish an independent body to guide and advise whistleblowers. Sign up to Afternoon Update: Election 2025 Our Australian afternoon update breaks down the key election campaign stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion 'It's critical that whistleblowers who speak up don't face reprisal for shedding light on information that is so overwhelmingly in the public interest. Whistleblowers should be protected, not punished.' Animals Australia, an animal protection organisation, said it had been approached by whistleblowers who were fearful of repercussions for speaking out about welfare issues. 'There must be stronger protections for whistleblowers,' Animals Australia legal counsel Shatha Hamade said. 'Vets with professional and ethical integrity are being forced out of the system.' The agriculture department has rejected the allegations that its oversight of export abattoirs is compromised. A spokesperson rejected suggestions understaffing had left abattoirs unmonitored or that it had stopped vets from conducting up-close inspections of animals before slaughter. It declined to comment on individual complaints by whistleblowers. Labor has committed to increasing oversight of the sector if re-elected by expanding the remit of the inspector general for Animal Welfare and Live Animal Exports. It told the Australian Alliance for Animals that: 'If re-elected, Labor will expand the role for the Inspector General to include export abattoirs to provide additional assurances to our trading partners, noting the responsibility of states in managing these sites.'
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Tougher bail regime to harden young crims, critics warn
Tougher bail laws will not make communities safer, say advocates who argue the reforms are not evidence-based and risk entrenching criminal behaviour. But Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has defended the latest reforms as the state's retailers endure the nation's highest number of violent attacks. "After listening to Victorians, to victims of crime, to the advice of Victoria Police and to other representatives across the justice system, we needed to bring about a jolt to the system," she told reporters on Friday. "We are seeing too much of a pattern of behaviour." We've just passed our tough new bail laws, putting community safety above all. — Jacinta Allan (@JacintaAllanMP) March 20, 2025 Australian retailers say there has been a spike in retail crime involving weapons in the past year, with incidents involving knives and blades up more than 40 per cent and an increase in violent or serious events of 30 per cent. One in four retail crime events in 2024 involved some form of violence, intimidation, threats, or physical or verbal abuse, and the top weapons used were knives and blades, according to statistics released on Thursday. Victorian retailers recorded the country's largest jump in both violent and threatening retail crime events, followed by Western Australia and NSW. Retail representatives say governments at all levels need to prioritise the issue and implement tougher penalties for offenders. Victoria's parliament in the early hours of Friday passed the Bail Amendment Bill, which removes the principle of remand as a last resort for children, makes community safety an overarching principle for bail decisions and reintroduces bail offences. Tougher bail tests for serious offences will take effect in three months. Ms Allan conceded more people will be remanded but said there is capacity in the system to handle the influx. Indigenous, legal and human rights groups say the laws will needlessly lock away more people - particularly Aboriginal women and children experiencing poverty, family violence and mental illness. "The Allan government has rammed through dangerous and discriminatory bail laws which will deeply harm Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and breach human rights," they said in a joint statement. National Children's Commissioner Anne Hollonds accused the government of looking for a quick political fix rather than acting on evidence. "The data shows the number of children involved in crime has actually decreased in Victoria by three per cent," she said, adding that most of these children have unmet needs such as disabilities, health and learning problems as well as trauma and maltreatment. "These are children in the most vulnerable of circumstances, and our 'early warning systems' of health, education and social services have failed to help them and their families." Maggie Munn from the Human Rights Law Centre said the laws condemn generations of children and adults to the trauma of imprisonment and risk more people dying behind bars. The Law Institute of Victoria said it remains concerned about the removal of remand as a last resort for children. "All the evidence shows that the earlier and longer a child interacts with the criminal justice system, the more likely they are to re-offend in the future," it said. But Opposition Leader Brad Battin said the amendments should have gone further, describing the reforms as weak and diluted. "Not only are these not the toughest bail laws in Australia, they're not even the toughest bail laws we've had here in Victoria," he said. Shadow Attorney-General Michael O'Brien added the changes did not restore Victoria's bail laws to what they were a year ago. Victoria tightened bail legislation in 2018 after James Gargasoulas drove into Melbourne's busy Bourke Street Mall while on bail, killing six people and injuring dozens more. The laws were relaxed in 2024 after an inquest into Indigenous woman Veronica Nelson's death in custody found the changes were an "unmitigated disaster". The parliament this week passed laws to ban the sale and possession of machetes in Victoria from September 1 and expand police search powers for weapons in designated areas.
The Guardian
21-03-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Afternoon Update: Victoria's ‘dangerous' bail reform; Heathrow closed after nearby blaze; and the pop girly country renaissance
Good afternoon. The Victorian government's controversial bail laws have passed parliament after a marathon debate, sparking criticism from legal and human rights groups who warn it will lead to the increased criminalisation of Aboriginal and other marginalised communities. The premier, Jacinta Allan, announced the changes to the Bail Act last week, before they were fast-tracked through parliament, passing the lower house on Tuesday and the upper house in the early hours of Friday. The new legislation scraps the principle of remand only as a 'last resort' for accused youth offenders. In its place, community safety would become the 'overarching principle' when deciding bail for children and adults. It also revives two bail offences – 'committing an indictable offence while on bail for indictable offence' and 'breaching of condition of bail' – each adding an additional three months of imprisonment to any other sentence imposed. The Human Rights Law Centre, the Federation of Community Legal Services Victoria (FCLSV), Flat Out advocacy service and the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service issued a joint statement after the bill passed, warning that it would lead to more vulnerable individuals being 'needlessly' locked up, and calling the laws 'dangerous and discriminatory'. Heathrow airport closed as firefighters tackle large Hayes substation fire that sparked blackouts Calls grow in Serbia for investigation into claims 'sound cannon' targeted protesters Trump rescinds executive order after law firm agrees to provide $40m in free services Israeli government approves firing of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar despite huge protests Florida man executed for killing eight-year-old girl and her grandmother US authorities claim tattoos prove membership of the Tren de Aragua gang but relatives of migrants caught up in Trump's crackdown say they are tributes to God, family and Real Madrid. Has the US targeted Venezuelans for their body art? 'It doesn't matter if they're very small island nations, their stories matter' – Oemwa Johnson Growing up in the Pacific nation of Kiribati, Johnson heard her grandfather's stories about nuclear explosions he witnessed in the 1950s. Between 1946 and 1996, the US, the UK and France conducted more than 300 underwater and atmospheric nuclear tests in the Pacific region, and people suffered grave health consequences as a result. This month, supporters of the UN treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons – including many from Pacific nations – met to discuss the treaty and call for wider ratification. Sign up to Afternoon Update Our Australian afternoon update breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Two-thirds of all irrigated agriculture in the world is likely to be affected in some way by receding glaciers and dwindling snowfall in mountain regions, driven by the climate crisis, according to a Unesco report. Cowboy hats and flannels are no longer just the realm of country music – or lesbians. Country music is cool now – even the pop girlies are leaning into it. Rebecca Shaw has finally been vindicated. Today's starter word is: SIGH. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply. If you would like to receive this Afternoon Update to your email inbox every weekday, sign up here, or start your day with a curated breakdown of the key stories you need to know with our Morning Mail newsletter. You can follow the latest in US politics by signing up for This Week in Trumpland.
The Guardian
20-03-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Victorian bail laws passed after marathon debate as Jacinta Allan says she has ‘listened to victims of crime'
The Victorian government's controversial bail laws have passed parliament after a marathon debate, sparking criticism from legal and human rights groups who warn it will lead to the increased criminalisation of Aboriginal and other marginalised communities. The premier, Jacinta Allan, announced the changes to the Bail Act last week, before they were fast-tracked through parliament, passing the lower house on Tuesday and then the upper house in the early hours of Friday. The debate dragged on in part due to the opposition's push to remove the word 'tough' from the bill's title, forcing the legislation to return to the lower house at 12.30am to rename it. It is now the Bail Amendment Act. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Allan had ordered a review into the state's bail laws in February amid growing community concern over rising crime. The latest crime statistics, released on Thursday, revealed a 13.2% increase in the crime rate – the highest it has been since 2016. Offences committed by children aged between 10 and 17 rose to their highest levels since electronic records began in 1993. Allan said her bail changes targeted the serious, repeat offenders police have identified as responsible for the increase in offending. 'I have listened to victims of crime and Victorians, and I have acted. These are the toughest bail laws in the country – putting community safety above all and delivering consequences for those who break the law,' she said on Friday morning. 'These laws send the strongest possible message to offenders – clean your act up or face the consequences.' Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion The new legislation scraps the principle of remand only as a 'last resort' for accused youth offenders. In its place, community safety would become the 'overarching principle' when deciding bail for children and adults. It also revives two bail offences – 'committing an indictable offence while on bail for indictable offence' and 'breaching of condition of bail' – each adding an additional three months of imprisonment to any other sentence imposed. The offences were scrapped in 2023, after advocacy by the family of Veronica Nelson and recommendations from a coronial inquest into her 2020 death in custody. Tougher bail tests for serious offences including aggravated burglary, home invasions and knife crime were also included in the bill but their introduction could be delayed by up to three months, due to the need for additional resources to manage the anticipated increase in offenders held on remand. The Human Rights Law Centre, the Federation of Community Legal Services Victoria (FCLSV), Flat Out advocacy service and the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service issued a joint statement after the bill passed, warning that it would lead to more vulnerable individuals being 'needlessly' locked up. 'The Allan government has today rammed through dangerous and discriminatory bail laws which will deeply harm Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and breach human rights,' it said. The First Nations director at the Human Rights Law Centre, Maggie Munn, said it was 'deeply shameful' the Allan government had not learnt from 'past policy failures', and instead 'capitulated to the tabloid media to entrench dangerous bail laws that undermine people's right to liberty'. Louisa Gibbs, the chief executive of the FCLSV, said the state's legal sector was 'united in our position that rewinding bail laws is a costly and dangerous mistake that will cause far more harm than good, without addressing community safety'.
The Guardian
22-02-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Asylum seeker slated for deportation to Nauru has removal posponed due to legal challenge
An asylum seeker slated for deportation to Nauru on Monday has had his removal postponed, after he launched a legal challenge in the high court. But the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, told Guardian Australia he was confident in the government's power to deport the man and 'we will proceed with removal to Nauru as soon as possible'. The man facing deportation is part of the NZYQ cohort, about 280 non-citizens in the Australian community who previously faced indefinite immigration detention because their visas had been cancelled on 'character grounds' but who could not be removed to their home countries because they faced persecution, or because those countries refused to accept them. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email In November 2023, the high court ruled it was unlawful for the government to indefinitely detain a person if there was 'no real prospect' of them being removed from the country 'in the reasonably foreseeable future'. The man was re-detained in Australia last week after Nauru granted him, and two other men, 30-year visas to live in that country, under a secretive deal it signed with Australia. The minister said the three men slated for removal were 'violent offenders' and that one had been convicted of murder. The Australian government is refusing to say how much it is paying Nauru – or what other inducements were offered to the Pacific island nation – to accept non-citizens from Australia for resettlement. On Friday, one of the re-detained men filed a case in the high court, arguing that the decision to cancel his protection visa on character grounds was unlawful. Within hours of the case being filed, the minister for immigration and multicultural affairs gave a commitment to the court that he would not be removed while the case is ongoing. The two other men are also scheduled for removal on Monday: last-minute legal challenges are also expected in those cases. Laura John, associate legal director at the Human Rights Law Centre, which is representing the first man, said it was 'deplorable' the government was attempting to banish people from Australia before they had completed their visa review process. 'While our client has been given a temporary reprieve, the threat of deportation to a third country has not disappeared. If allowed to continue to use these new powers, the Australian government could remove any person without a visa to any country in the world, regardless of their family connections or whether they have spent their whole lives in Australia. 'We must continue to resist this punitive overreach by our government, that, in future, could affect thousands of people in our community.' The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, said the government was prepared for the legal challenge. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion 'The government said on day one that this arrangement with Nauru was likely to be challenged in the courts. This is no surprise,' he said. Burke said the government was confident in the validity of the laws passed by federal parliament in November last year, which gave the government increased powers to send people without a valid Australian visa to a third country for resettlement. 'These are violent criminals who broke Australia's laws. Because of the government's new laws they are still in detention, rather than being out in the community. 'We will proceed with removal to Nauru as soon as possible.' The NZYQ cohort is more than 280 non-citizens released into the community in Australia as a result of a landmark 2023 high court decision, in which the court ruled in favour of 'NZYQ', a stateless Rohingya man. NZYQ faced the prospect of detention for life because no country would resettle him because of a conviction for raping a child. The high court ruled that immigration detention is unlawful where there was 'no real prospect' of the person being able to be deported 'in the reasonably foreseeable future'. The NZYQ ruling overturned the 2004 Al-Kateb judgment, which ruled the government could indefinitely detain a non-citizen. As of December 2024, 64 of the NZYQ cohort were subject to electronic monitoring, while a night-time curfew had been imposed on 37.
