Animal rights group PETA has pulled off an inventive new stunt to challenge the government over greenhouse gas emissions.
Citing the effect of methane produced by farm livestock like cows, the group sent PM Scott Morrison and Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce a meat themed crossword.
An accompanying letter called for an end to attempt to lower levels of methane through changing cows’ diet. Instead, PETA says “Australia is overlooking the simplest solition: making the transition to a kinder, greener vegan future.”
PETA and Joyce have a long history of feuds.
Back when he was agricultural minister in 2015, Joyce accused a California-based Australian musician of being a “spiv” and “living in vegan splendour” after he was part of a campaign for PETA.
In the campaign – which took aim at sheep shearing – musician Jona Weinhofen was pictured holding a bloody lamb, with the caption ‘here’s the rest of your wool coat’. PETA has never confirmed whether the lamb was real, or a plastic prop.
Joyce then went on to say that sheep shearers were “sick of having their noses rubbed in it by someone resplendent in their vegan wonderland in California.”
Then, in 2017, PETA sent Joyce a pair of vegan leather boots for his 50th birthday.
In a post on their site, PETA said: “We hope the footwear – similar in style to his favourite RM Williams leather boots – will inspire him to bury the hatchet with PETA and commit to maintaining a cruelty-free wardrobe.”
PETA has been criticised previously for some of its outlandish stunts, including comparing the treatment of animals in factory farms to the Holocaust, making an ad claiming that dairy products ’caused’ autism and putting a naked pregnant woman in a cage for Mother’s Day to encourage people to go vegetarian.
A meat themed crossword is probably a slightly more appealing marketing tool – you can do it over your morning cup of coffee (just make sure to use oat milk). 
Featured Image: YouTube/Sky News Australia
