Taxpayers will foot the bill for vegan vigilante protest that shut down Melbourne's CBD and caused chaos at farms - as the animal activists vow to do it all again soon
- Protesters chained themselves to vehicles in Melbourne's CBD on Monday
- Activists also invaded abattoirs and farms in Victoria, NSW and Queensland
- Those involved in Monday's protests have promised to repeat their actions
- Taxpayers will reportedly be forced to pay for the disruption activists caused
- Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the protesters' actions were 'un-Australian'
Taxpayers will be forced to pay for the disruption caused by vegan activists who shut down the Melbourne CBD and targeted abattoirs across the country.
Protesters chained themselves to vehicles in Melbourne's central city, bringing peak hour traffic to a halt on Monday morning at the intersection of Flinders Street and Swanston Street.
Activists also invaded abattoirs and farms in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland - actions Prime Minister Scott Morrison described as 'un-Australian'.
In Melbourne, 39 people were arrested and charged - including a 15-year-old - and commuters were left delayed and outraged.
Those involved in Monday's protests have promised to repeat their actions - and taxpayers will foot the bill for Monday's disorder and additional police presence, Sunrise reported.
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Taxpayers will be forced to pay for the disruption caused by vegan activists who shut down the Melbourne CBD (pictured) and targeted abattoirs
Protesters chained themselves to vehicles in Melbourne's central city, bringing peak hour traffic to a halt on Monday morning (pictured)
In Melbourne, 39 people were arrested and charged - including a 15 year old - and commuters were left delayed and outraged (pictured)
Police have warned protesters who plan to repeat Monday's demonstrations that they should change their tactics or they will risk further arrests.
Mr Morrison said the activists were 'green-collar criminals' who were harming Australian farmers.
'This is just another form of activism that I think runs against the national interest, and the national interest is being able to farm their own land,' he told 2GB.
The Morrison government has put the Aussie Farms website under privacy laws, exposing it to much tougher penalties for refusing to take down a map of farmers' addresses and contact details.
'I'm expecting state governments - as I'm sure they will - to do their jobs,' he said.
Up to 200 others remained outside the Warwick facility, protesting against what they said was the barbaric slaughter of sheep and pigs.
Brad King, from the activist group Farm Animal Rescue, was among those at a protest at an abattoir in Warwick, Queensland, and said animals slaughtered at the site had endured terrifying deaths.
Mr Morrison said the activists were 'green-collar criminals' who were harming Australian farmers
Attorney-General Christian Porter wrote to Privacy Commissioner Angelene Falk to consider investigating the group allegedly behind the activism.
'There are strong grounds to conclude that Aussie Farms Inc is engaging in a systematic effort in collecting, using and disclosing personal information to the detriment of farmers and agricultural producers,' Mr Porter said in the letter.
Mr Porter also wrote to the state and territory attorneys-general and police ministers to urge them to tighten up their criminal trespass laws.
Privacy laws were changed last Friday which exposed Aussie Farms' website to significant penalties for publishing farmers' addresses and contact details.
Nationals senator John Williams told Sky News that fines were not good enough and there was 'a limit to what the farmers will put up with'.
'Farmers are not violent people. But when these people go out there and cut the fence and let the livestock out on the road, well, farmers might get angry,' he said.
'And if the chips are down a bit, with the drought etc, you never know what they might do. There might be a punch-up, there might be someone hurt or whatever.
'But these people are promoting the wrong by stirring up and breaking the law.'
Queensland's Agriculture Minister Mark Furner has pushed for farmers to help police by gathering evidence against the vegan 'zealots'.
'What they are doing is breaching the law. I'm extremely angry and have really had a gutful of these people,' he said.
Victoria Police said it monitored the protest to ensure it was peaceful as they removed some of the rally-goers
A protester is led away by police following the mass rally in Melbourne
Protesters sit down at the intersection of Flinders and Swanston streets during the morning rally
'They need to take video footage with their phones or whatever they have available and give that to the police as evidence so that a prosecution will be successful but they need to complain to police to start the process.'
Mr Furner promised on-the-spot fines for activists would be rolled out within weeks.
KAP Leader Bob Katter said vegan activism targeted two-thirds of employment in North Queensland, namely coal, beef and horticulture.
'Every Australian has the right to put forward his or her point of view... but you have no right to impose your viewpoint upon other Australians and invade their privacy.
Queensland's Agriculture Minister Mark Furner has pushed for farmers to help police by gathering evidence against the vegan 'zealots'
'If the government can't protect a person's right to privacy, their right to food, their right to private property, then you are not a government and you are taking your wages under false pretences,' Mr Katter said.
Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said the states must beef up trespass laws so farm invaders would face serious penalties.
'If I broke into a suburban house in Melbourne or Sydney, I'd expect to be arrested, handcuffed and taken away. Breaking into a farm should be no different,' he said.
The vegan activists want state and federal agricultural ministers to 'acknowledge cruelty in the process of killing animals for food, clothing and entertainment' and to add warning labels on animal products.
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