In response to Meat Free Week, Liberal MP for Dawson, George Christensen has launched a counter campaign titled Free Meat Week – encouraging people to consume meat.
Christensen said that he ‘ran out of meat’ at a free parliamentary barbecue that he hosted in Canberra yesterday where he served up lamb, pork and beef, the Daily Mercury reports.
"There haven't been any calls to the office or emails directly attacking me," Christensen said of his counter campaign.
"But there certainly has been a fair bit of criticism from animal rights groups and supporters on Twitter."
Meat Free Week is a national campaign designed to expose factory farming practices and encourage consumers to think about how much meat they consume, as well as the impact that the industry has on the environment.
Organisers of the event Lainie Bracher and Melissa Dixon, have received criticism from the meat industry with many people labelling them as ‘anti-farming’.
“Very few people are talking about responsible and ethical meat consumption and that is what we aim to do with Meat Free Week,” Bracher and Dixon told Food Magazine last year.
“We are not suggesting people give up meat entirely; rather we hope that by understanding the benefits of eating less meat, consumers will choose to make a serious commitment to reducing their meat consumption.”
Christensen says that his ‘meaty’ campaign has generated a lot of support from the rural sector.
"I've had a lot of support from the rural sector because I suppose they felt, like I did, that while the people behind Meat Free Week try to cloak it in terms of health, the reality is it is a campaign saying meat is bad for us, is bad the environment, is unethical and we shouldn't eat it."