Eight vegan activists have been fined between $400 and $600 in the Brisbane Magistrates Court this week after taking part in farm invasions, including a sit-in at Carey Brothers abattoir at Yangan.
The activists were convicted under trespass laws with no convictions recorded.
On Monday 8 April a group of 21 activists chained themselves to equipment inside the abattoir after breaking into the facility in the early hours of the morning.
Carey Brothers management and police negotiated with them for several hours and they were eventually given three of Carey Brothers’ own lambs on the proviso they left the abattoir peacefully.
The lambs were later re-located to a Brisbane animal sanctuary.
The activists then harassed the Christensen family at their Freestone dairy farm.
Seven of the activists — Marilyn Orr, Miranda Welsh Webster, Scott Justin Miller, Jessica Leigh Lunardon, Amie Louise Joseph-Hall, Melanie Ellen Hinckseman and Lyndal Maree Carmichael — were convicted and fined in the court this week and each ordered to pay the abattoir $180 in restitution.
The Queensland Government has been heavily criticised by farming lobby groups for what they say is its weak response to animal activist farm invasions.
The government last month enabled police and biosecurity officers to issue on-the-spot fines of $652.17 to activists on top of penalties for trespassing.
