18,500 goats to be intensively farmed on Geelong's doorstep, at Moorabool and Lara.

The City of Greater Geelong is currently considering two planning applications made by Nuchev for goat dairy farms in which animals are confined indoors with approximately 6m2 space each - "No areas are proposed for grazing or animal exercise".

Nuchev produces goat infant formula products, primarily for the Asian market.

These goats will spend their lives intensively confined, while enduring the constant cycle of impregnation, birth, and milking that all dairy animals are forced to undertake, so their milk can be exported for use as formula powder overseas. Not to mention the cruelty associated with the slaughter of male infants and end-of-usefulness slaughter of all other goats.

Geelong Council received 447 objections to the applications and will be considering the proposals at a meeting on July 7, 2016.

We urge the Administrators fulfilling the roles of Mayor and Councillors to reject the proposed factory farms for the following reasons:

1. The proposal does not support the purpose of the Farming Zone. The purpose of the Farming Zone is: ‘to provide for the use of land for agriculture; to encourage the retention of productive agricultural land.’  How is the confinement of 18,500 goats in huge sheds with 100% of food brought in from off-site using the land for agriculture?  This is an industrial use -  the site is not ‘productive agricultural land’ in this scenario (i.e. soil quality is irrelevant).
2. The proposal will not contribute positively to a 'farmed rural landscape' as required by Clause 21.07-5 Rural Areas and Clause 22.05 Agriculture, Rural Dwellings and Subdivision. Clause 21.07-5 Rural Areas aims to ‘ensure that rural areas provide an attractive setting through the preservation of a farmed rural landscape’.  Enormous sheds housing up to 7,000 goats and a milk processing plant do not constitute a ‘farmed rural landscape’ and will negatively impact the farmed landscape character of the area.
3. The proposal is unsustainable. The Greater Geelong Planning Scheme includes the City of Greater Geelong Sustainable Growth Framework, which is supposed to 'ensure that all actions and development undertaken in the City of Greater Geelong meets the needs of the present community, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs'. Factory farming is unsustainable by its very nature.
4. The proposal is not supported by Clause 21.05 Natural Environment of the Planning Scheme. The environmental impacts of such farms are significant and can have serious adverse impacts on waterways and biodiversity. Intensive farming also contributes to climate change.
5. The proposal does not provide the goats with the Five Freedoms. The application report (RFI response) includes the following statement: “No areas are proposed for grazing or animal exercise.  Nuchev has undertaken research in this field and believe that there are no benefits to goats if grazing and/or animal exercise is undertaken.” It is utter absurdity to claim that grazing and exercise is of no benefit to goats. The widely-accepted Five Freedoms necessitate that animals are given the opportunity to express normal behaviours.

6. No social impact assessment has been provided as required under Clause 65. Clause 65 provides that the matters set out in Section 60 of the Planning and Environment Act are to be considered.  One of these matters is: “(f)    any significant social effects and economic effects which the responsible authority considers the use or development may have.” The Proposal, an intensive farming development involving immense cruelty to animals, has a significant social impact.  More and more members of the public are refusing to tolerate the factory farming of animals and for many Victorians, the knowledge that such factory farms exist and that sentient beings are suffering in such conditions has a detrimental impact on their own wellbeing.

7. Unacceptable impacts on amenity. The operating hours of the milk processing plant (24 hours a day) and of the farms (4am - 11pm), as well as noise impacts and a significant number of vehicle movements (including large vehicles) will have a detrimental effect on the amenity of the surrounding area.

Factory farming is not the way of the future for the City of Greater Geelong. Please show some common sense and some compassion and reject Planning Permit Applications 32/2015 & 1204/2015.