Over 60 people joined animal rights media organisation Farm Transparency Project (FTP) in Canberra today for a hearing before the High Court of Australia, to determine the fate of censored slaughterhouse footage.

Today's hearing is the final legal showdown in a case that has stretched for over two years. The outcome will determine whether or not FTP will be able to publish hours of footage of animal cruelty, captured inside the Eurobin facility of the Game Meats Company in 2024.

The footage is currently under injunction after a Federal Court appeal overturned an initial judgement and granted a gag order on the basis of copyright ownership, in an unprecedented development of the law. 

Both parties presented their cases to the full bench of the High Court, with GMC defending the gag while FTP argued for the public's right to see the footage, which FTP says is of great public interest. The Human Rights Legal Centre (HRLC) and the Alliance for Journalists Freedom (AJF) joined the proceedings as amicus curiae, arguing that the Federal Court ruling has chilling ramifications for press freedom. 

At the conclusion of the hearing, GMC sought leave to apply to amend its notice of contention, in order to present new arguments as to why orders of the full Federal Court should be upheld without relying on a constructive trust. Leave to apply was granted by the court. GMC will have 14 days to file written submissions in support of its application, and FTP will have 14 days to respond.