The Federal Court of Australia has ruled that the temporary ban on live export of farmed animals to Indonesia in 2011 was invalid, and the Federal Government is likely going to have to pay out damages to animal agriculture corporations.
I make no judgement on whether the court findings are valid (I’m not a lawyer), keeping in mind that I don’t think legality equals morality.
However, the use of the words ‘reckless’ and ‘capricious’ in the judgement about an action aimed at reducing suffering to non-humans makes it abundantly clear that the legal system is not built to protect the interests of anyone but humans.
It also sets a sad precedent. Future governments may well be less inclined to make legal change in the interests of non-humans if they think an animal agriculture company or industry representative group is going to sue them. Consider also what happened to Premier Mike Baird after the (ultimately temporary) ban on greyhound racing in NSW.