Hundreds of farmers from across Australia held a protest on Tuesday against government farming policies they said were influenced by environmental and animal welfare activists and which were harming their livelihoods.
Australia is one of the world’s biggest agricultural exporters and farmers nationwide are increasingly angry with the centre-left Labor government that has sought to ban exports of live sheep, restrict water use and accelerate construction of renewable power and transmission in rural areas. “We deserve to be respected,” National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) president David Jochinke told a crowd on the lawn in front of Australia’s federal parliament in Canberra.
“There are alternative voices that are united against us. We don’t think they are the ones that should be setting the policy,” he said.
“We feel like we are getting stiffed.” The government did not send a representative to the rally. Agriculture Minister Julie Collins told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) the government was committed to listening and had helped farmers by expanding overseas market access and investing in biosecurity.
The NFF said more than 2,000 people attended what was its first nationwide rally of farmers in the capital since the 1980s.
The protest is part of a wave of unrest in Europe and elsewhere aimed at governments imposing environmental regulation that farmers say burdens them with red tape and higher costs, as well as limiting their ability to farm.
Australian opposition leader Peter Dutton addresses protesters at a national farmers rally in Canberra, Australia, on Tuesday.
