The High Court of Australia has today granted Farm Transparency Project (FTP) special leave to appeal a decision by the full court of the Federal Court, which awarded the Game Meats Company (GMC) slaughterhouse copyright over footage captured by FTP while trespassing in early 2024. Approximately one in twenty special leave applications are granted. 

The High Court will be the final arbiters on this case, with the outcome setting a binding precedent for future animal cruelty investigations in Australia. FTP will argue that the footage, which shows numerous instances of animal cruelty in breach of welfare requirements, as well as standard animal slaughter practices, should be allowed to be published and that the organisation should retain copyright over the footage that they captured. 

The footage, depicting the slaughter of goats at the facility in Eurobin, Victoria, was originally published by FTP in May last year, but a temporary injunction granted to the slaughterhouse forced it to be taken offline just hours later. 

The matter was initially heard during a Federal Court trial in August last year, where FTP directors conceded that they had trespassed onto GMC's property to install hidden cameras over the kill floor. The Federal Court denied a permanent injunction, however awarded the slaughterhouse $130,000 in damages.

The slaughterhouse subsequently appealed to the full court of the Federal Court, who reversed the ruling and granted an injunction on the footage via a constructive trust, ordering the destruction of the footage. These orders were stayed, pending the outcome of FTP's special leave application. 

FTP's Executive Director, Chris Delforce: "For the last 19 months, we've been fighting for this footage to see the light of day. We're very optimistic that the chilling precedent set by the Federal Court earlier this year may now be overturned, in what would be an enormous win for the public's right to know what happens behind the closed doors of factory farms and slaughterhouses."

"Despite being a country of self-professed animal lovers, commercialised animal abuse is a serious and systemic problem in Australia that, without transparency, will only get worse. If the harsh realities of the animal agriculture industry can't even be publicly shared, there's simply no opportunity for Australians to have an informed conversation about whether this kind of cruelty still has a place in our society. It's a conversation that's desperately needed, and long overdue." 

Dates are yet to be set for the hearing, which is expected to be held in Canberra in 2026.