A landmark case challenging the Australian public's right to know what happens to animals in slaughterhouses continues in the Federal Court today, as the Game Meats Company appeals a decision to refuse an injunction to block the publication of footage showing the slaughter of animals at their Eurobin facility.

The footage was initially provided to the federal Department of Agriculture as part of a formal complaint, two weeks before being released publicly. Court documents subsequently revealed that rather than launching an investigation into the complaint, the Department quietly forwarded it to management at the slaughterhouse, warning them of likely media coverage and giving them time to secretly obtain a temporary injunction in the Federal Court, which ultimately forced FTP to take down the footage shortly after publication. A permanent injunction was denied after a trial in August 2024, however the Game Meats Company appealed this decision in February 2025, meaning that the footage is still unable to be published. 

In his initial judgement, Justice Snaden stated that while "most people eat meat... commercial meat processing is a gruesome business, no matter how ethically or humanely it is performed." In justifying his decision to allow the publication of the footage, he made reference to evidence given by a manager who admitted that there "may have been" a culture at the abattoir that "if we pass the external audit, everything is okay", and accepted FTP's statements and communications following the publication of the footage to imply that "certain things occurred at the abattoir and that those occurrences (or some of them) are apt to be described as having involved acts of animal cruelty."

The Game Meats Company claim that the judge should have granted a permanent injunction, arguing that the company face ongoing risk of reputational damage as long as the threat of the footage being published remains.

Farm Transparency Project's Executive Director, Chris Delforce, says that the appeal is another attempt from the slaughterhouse to delay the publication of footage that shows the reality of their operations. 

"If the Game Meats Company had nothing to hide, they would welcome the publication of footage of their operations. What we originally published, before being forced to remove it, was hours and hours of footage of the slaughter of thousands of goats at their facility across a two week period. So far they've tried to claim that we've acted with dishonesty and malice, and they've failed. They've tried to argue that the footage didn't show cruelty, and they've failed. Now they're trying again to desperately hide what they do because they know that most people would be horrified if they knew that the Game Meats Company was slitting the throats of animals while they're still blinking and struggling, and uses large, electrified prongs to painfully kill newborn goats."

"This isn't about their business at all, it's about the public's right to know what really happens in Australia's farms and slaughterhouses. We will continue to fight until that right is unequivocal."

The appeal will be heard by the Full Court of the Federal Court in Melbourne, starting at 10am on Friday 1st August, 2025. A livestream will be available at https://www.youtube.com/@FederalCourtAus.  

The full judgment of the original case is available at: https://www.comcourts.gov.au/file/Federal/P/VID417/2024/actions