First one was a video of a protest at the main saleyards on the outskirts of Adelaide. There were about forty men and women lined up against the pens with a man in the middle, talking through a loudspeaker. He was talking about the ethical treatment of animals and why saleyards made animals frightened. Jack watched closely, making sure he’d be able to recall details if he was asked. This video would have been of the protests Jack would’ve attended if he’d actually been who he was now saying he was. The auctioneer stopped halfway through a pen and told them to fuck off, they were interfering with a workplace. The activists ignored him. In the background the cattle were bellowing and there were the sounds of police sirens.

Jack rewound the video and watched it again and again, until he was sure he had all the details correct, then he started on the next one.

This one was of a live export rally. Hundreds of people were there and most of them seemed to be peaceful. There were three speakers: two women and a man. There were signs everywhere, saying: Cooked alive, Ban live export and Live export equals cruelty. The speakers were calling for the Prime Minister to ban live export. They said it wasn’t about politics or economics, it was about the fact each and every animal had a right to life.

‘Tell that to every poor bastard whose livelihood is affected if this industry is shut down,’ Jack muttered.

Back when live export had been shut down without warning, there were reporters saying it wouldn’t affect anyone other than the few hundred livestock producers in the northern part of Australia. They were very wrong.

Jack’s mate, Peter, who was a truck driver, had lost his job and his truck because he hadn’t been able to make the repayments on it. A mustering contractor Peter knew didn’t have work for two years and had to shift his family down south to start again—and that wasn’t even mentioning the people who had worked for him. The jillaroos and jackaroos were without jobs, and the land suffered because the animals that should have been sold weren’t and feed was short. The impact of that decision had been much more far reaching than anyone could have imagined.

However, no one wanted animals to suffer. That bit was understood and agreed by everyone.

Jack started the next video and went back to his research.

CHAPTER 23

Chapter 23

Zara grabbed her bag from the passenger’s seat and locked the car before going into the office of Grant Tann. She signed her name and waited for someone to come and collect her.