During the announcement Deputy Premier John Barilaro said that 'vigilantes who are entering our farmers' property illegally are nothing short of domestic terrorists - our farmers have had a gutful. They don't deserve, nor have time, to be dealing with illegal trespass and vile harassment from a bunch of virtue-signalling thugs.'
Speaking about the harsh penalties that have been put in place, Barilaro added that the government are also looking at ways to further deter this behaviour, including introducing legislation and potential jail time for offenders.
The move follows an incident in April this year which saw a group of activists enter a number of farms and abattoirs to highlight the unethical treatment of animals in Australia.
The protests coincided with the first anniversary of the controversial documentary, Dominion, which made headlines for exposing the truth of modern agriculture practices.
Speaking about the film, director Chris Delforce said 'the industry is telling people these animals are being killed ethically, that they are being killed humanely. The reality is it's the furthest thing from humane.
Delforce also recently made headlines when he spoke about contributing towards the controversial map of farms across the country which led to a heated debate between panel members on The Project.
'People don't know what you can get away with when you're farming animals,' he said. 'Things like mutilation of piglets without anaesthetic, the grinding up of male chicks in the egg industry on their first day of life because they're useless to the industry.'
'These are standard practices that are perfectly legal. Most people would be horrified if they knew about them.'
