We know it can feel destabilising to see your faith in charities shaken. The recent RSPCA whistleblower story about company-wide orders to ignore cruelty reports, along with questions raised about Sydney Dogs & Cats Home, have brought difficult truths into the open. It is unsettling to question the behaviour of organisations we expect to protect animals. 

That’s why it’s important we can ask questions and raise concerns. We need to advocate for those who are vulnerable and voiceless. Blind trust doesn’t help when evidence shows otherwise. These organisations are entrusted with the welfare of innocent animals, and it is the public’s right and responsibility to ensure that welfare is prioritised and concerns are addressed.

​​FYI – for anyone worried about speaking up:

• CONFIDENTIALITY RULES DON'T OVERRIDE THE LAW. No agreement can stop you from telling the truth about cruelty, neglect, or misconduct (more info)
• THE TRUTH IS A DEFENSE. If your statement is factually correct and provable, defamation law protects you. (more info)
• PUBLIC INTEREST MATTERS. Defamation law also protects publication on issues affecting the community – like animal welfare and how publicly funded charities operate. (more info)
• UNFAIR WAIVERS DON'T HOLD. A waiver that misrepresents the truth, or is issued after the fact, has no binding force. (more info)

👉 Don’t be intimidated by legal threats designed to silence you. Intimidation in court has a name: abuse of process. Judges have the power to call it out and shut it down. And if it ever came to court, they’d be required to disclose their own documents in the discovery process.

Thank you to every one of you. Your shares, comments, messages, donations, and postering haven’t gone unnoticed. You’ve gone above and beyond, and your actions matter. This is how change happens.

Your bravery has not gone unnoticed. Being wrong and being early can feel the same, but our strength is that our ask is simple – transparency on reasonable issues of public interest. It may take others longer to see it, but when they do, they’ll see you were brave enough to back yourself – and to back the voiceless, when silence was the easier path.

Thank you for refusing silence, and for making your voice count.