“When we see shocking images of mother pigs confined in sow stalls unable to stand up or turn around, or of a broiler hen with her beak cut off, we know that this is wrong. With a little investigation, we also discover that it’s completely unnecessary.”
Voiceless was founded by Brian Sherman and his daughter Ondine Sherman in 2004. Since its establishment, Voiceless has attracted a swathe of high profile patrons and ambassadors, including Dr Jane Goodall DBE, Nobel laureate JM Coetzee, former High Court Justice Michael Kirby, Hugo Weaving and Abbie Cornish. Other public figures such as former Treasury Secretary Dr Ken Henry and former NSW Premier and Minister for Foreign Affairs Bob Carr serve on the Voiceless Council.
“We’re lucky enough to be supported by an influential network of high profile individuals who work to ensure the sustainability, growth and development of Voiceless into the future,” says Ms Burgess.
Burgess acknowledges that Voiceless shares a number of goals with political parties such as the Greens and the Animal Justice Party. However, Voiceless’ approach transcends politics to encompass engagement with universities, the legal community and smaller organisations within the animal protection movement.
The issues considered by Voiceless are diverse, ranging from live exports to the accurate labelling of animal products. Since 2004, Voiceless has created an annual Animal Law Lecture Series with some of the world’s most prominent international animal law experts. It has encouraged writers and journalists to write about animal welfare issues through literary and media prizes and helped establish animal law as a discipline in many of Australia’s universities.
Voiceless is particularly critical of what it describes as cruel and inhumane factory farming practices that are permitted under state and territory laws and codes of practice.
“Farmed animals are conscious beings,” says Ms Burgess. “They suffer pain, feel emotions and build strong relationships. These capacities ought to be considered when making laws about the treatment of animals.”
At a roundtable on drones and privacy held by the Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs in February this year, Emmanuel Giuffre, Legal Counsel for Voiceless, outlined the benefits of using surveillance drones – or unmanned aircraft – to increase the visibility over large-scale commercial agricultural facilities. While Voiceless does not itself use drones, Mr Giuffre argued that drones can help detect violations of animal cruelty regulations that would otherwise remain undiscovered.
“Drones and other surveillance tools play a very important role in raising awareness about the realities of factory farming,” says Ms Burgess. “To date, such footage has resulted in the ACCC pursuing misleading and deceptive conduct against poultry farm operators.”
Ms Burgess argues that public awareness is crucial to any social justice movement – and Voiceless believes that animal protection is the next great social justice movement.
“Changing the status quo of farming practices and how they are governed will depend on consumer and retailer demand for better animal welfare protections, such as what we have seen with Coles and Woolworths phasing out sow stalls and battery cages,” she says.
“While law reform and policy are instrumental in changing the systemic cruelty issues in factory farming, these changes will undoubtedly be prompted by public demand and outrage.”
