CANBERRA, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Australia's Attorney-General Christian Porter has called for an investigation into an animal rights group responsible for nationwide vegan protests on Monday.
Porter on Tuesday asked the Information and Privacy Commission to investigate Aussie Farms after their protestors trespassed on private farms to stage their protests and chained themselves to farming and abattoir equipment.
The group also posted a map on its website of Australian livestock farms, calling on protestors to disrupt their operations.
"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," Porter wrote to Information and Privacy Commissioner Angelene Falk on Tuesday, as reported by News Corp Australia.
"Further, it would now appear that despite being aware of its prescription under the Privacy Act, Aussie Farms Inc continues to ... play a significant role in spreading disruptive protest activity from Australia's farms to our capital cities."
Protestors also took to the streets of Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne calling on Australians to stop consuming animal products.
Responding to the protests, Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday described them as "green-collared criminals" who should face the "full force of the law."
"I think state and territory governments should ensure the full force of the law is brought against these green colored criminals," he said.
"I also say this, if there are pastoralists, farmers, graziers that are in a position to bring a civil action against these groups, looking to undermine their livelihood, the Commonwealth is totally open to supporting them in a test case to show these green criminals."
