Will Howlett Fully Disclose Donations from ‘Bad Boy’ Abattoir?

The recent release of political donations over $1000 appears to show that the incumbent Primary Industries Minister Jane Howlett has, since 1 July accepted a $3000 donation from one Jake Oliver, the owner and operations manager of Tasmanian Quality Meats (TQM). TQM was exposed by Farm Transparency Project in 2023, with investigative footage revealing animal cruelty inflicted upon bobby calves and sheep at the company’s slaughterhouse in Cressy.

Animal Liberation Tasmania are calling for the immediate disclosure of any other donations made to Howlett prior to 1 July by Jake Oliver, and question the appropriateness of such donations to an incumbent Primary Industries Minister by a slaughterhouse with such a beleaguered history.

Media release – Animal Liberation Tasmania, 18 July 2025

Political Donations: Primary Industries Minister Receives Donation From Notorious Slaughterhouse

With the recent release of information on all political donations over $1000, it appears that incumbent Primary Industries Minister and Liberal candidate for Lyons Jane Howlett has received a $3000 donation from one Jake Oliver in July this year.

It is believed that this Jake Oliver is the owner and operations manager at Tasmanian Quality Meats.

In 2023, TQM faced a loss of their export licence and had their bobby calf slaughter operations suspended, following damning footage released by Farm Transparency Project. The footage showed egregious animal cruelty, including the brutalisation of week-old dairy calves, and the slaughter of sheep and calves who consciously responded after stunning.

Similar footage was released from TQM many years prior, in 2016.

In response to the 2023 investigation the Tasmanian Liberals established a task force, and mandated the operation of CCTV in all commercial slaughterhouses.

TQM already had such cameras in place since before the 2016 footage release.

Since FTP released the footage in 2023, the Tasmanian Liberals have given TQM nearly half a million dollars, via a grant to “improve” their calf slaughter infrastructure. They have also initiated a “buy back” scheme for the ear tags of bonby calves slaughtered at TQM, with a rebate paid to dairy producers of $4.50 per tag.

On 25/9/24 in GBE hearings, it was revealed that no CCTV footage from TQM had been viewed since the mandating of cameras, with the department instead palming this off as the responsibility of the federal Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, as an export accredited facility.

No charges were laid against any person shown committing acts if egregious animal cruelty, in either the 2016 footage or the 2023 footage.

As the rules have only recently changed regarding political donations, we only know of this one recent donation made to Jane Howlett by the owner and operations manager of TQM, Jake Oliver. There may have been more made prior to July 1st that we are unaware of.

The question must be asked as to whether it is acceptable for an incumbent Primary Industries Minister to accept even a small donation from a privately owned and operated business so embroiled in public scandal as regards animal welfare breaches.

Especially given the significant amount of public funds that have been directed towards said business.

In the aforementioned GBE hearing, Howlett stated that she personally was “absolutely horrified” by the footage released by FTP. And yet she readily accepts money from the very perpetrators of this egregious animal cruelty, and in her role as minister for Primary Industries has actively facilitated the granting of public funds so that TQM may continue the slaughter of discarded week-old dairy calves as well as sheep.

This is a disgraceful state of affairs. ALT demands that information regarding all donations made to the minister by TQM prior to July 1st be publicly disclosed.

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