SOUTH-WEST farmers are being held to ransom by heartless vegan activists, according to MP Roma Britnell.
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The Member for South West Coast said she had been inundated with phone calls from farmers worried about the safety of their children.
Mrs Britnell said farmers and businesses were receiving threats of protests in the south-west.
She said the state government needed to impose harsh penalties on people who trespass on properties and threaten the livelihood of farmers.
"These trespassers should be convicted and fined tens of thousands of dollars - not $1," Mrs Britnell said.
She said their campaign was an insult to farmers, who went to great lengths to protect the environment and animals.
"To make an assumption that we're rapists and pillages of the landscape before even coming and seeing what we're doing is insulting to hard working farmers."
Mrs Britnell said the co-ordinated national smear campaign couldn't have come at a worse time.
"Farmers are under an enormous amount of pressure here in Western Victoria - we're busy calving and this extra pressure is totally unwarranted and unjustified," she said.
In addition to that, Victorian children are home on school holidays and parents are on edge.
Mrs Britnell said she was pleased the federal government had taken measures to protect the privacy of farmers, but the state government now needed to act.
"It's time for the state government to step in, not only with strengthened laws, but with a campaign about what farmers do to protect animals and the environment," she said.
Mrs Britnell said police in the district had been extremely proactive and contacted farmers following the threats of action in the south-west.
She urged farmers to stay calm and contact police if they were the victim of threats.
"The last thing we want is farmers to take matters in to their own hands," Mrs Britnell said.
"We need the government to be giving police the right laws to do their job."
Winslow farmer Jock O'Keefe has confirmed he will call police if vegan activists cause havoc on his property.
Mr O'Keefe said he heard on the grapevine south-west properties would be targeted, but he had not seen any activists on Monday.
"If they want to come to my place they're welcome, but don't get in my way," Mr O'Keefe said.
He said if anyone tried to interfere with his daily operation of the farm or made threats, he would call the police.
"Most farmers are doing the right thing and they should be allowed to continue," Mr O'Keefe said.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison labelled the animal activists behind a controversial map of farmers' addresses and contact details "un-Australian".
He also scolded the "shameful" actions of vegan protesters who have invaded farms and abattoirs.
"It is shameful, it is un-Australian," Mr Morrison told 2GB radio.
"This is just another form of activism that I think runs against the national interest and the national interest is being able to farm their own land."
Protesters parked several vans in the middle of a Melbourne intersection about 7am on Monday morning, with some chaining themselves to the vehicles.
Earlier, one of the organisers, Kristin Leigh, told Fairfax Media protesters intended to stay for "as long as possible".
"We don't want to be causing disruption but this is a climate emergency and an environmental emergency," she said.
On Sunday, Queensland Agriculture Minister Mark Furner said he'd had a gutful of activists putting farms at risk.
He is drafting regulations that would allow police and agriculture ministers to slap protesters with on-the-spot fines.
