The National Farmers Federation (NFF) has warned a recent crowd funding drive by the Wilderness Society to buy drones may impact farmers, as the drones are earmarked to be used to film deforestation activities by cropping and livestock producers.

The plan of the crowd funding campaign is to spend the almost $30,000 dollars raised so far putting as many drones as possible in the air to film farmers all over Australia clearing land, and to broadcast that footage online and through the media as part of a strategic plan to “uncover a mass deforestation crisis”.

President of the National Farmers Federation, Fiona Simson, said the campaign won’t make any attempt to first ask the farmers what they’re doing, or why, or if it’s ok to film them and their employees. 

“It won’t look beyond the surface, or try to work out whether what is happening is within the bounds of the law,” Simson said.

“It will film people at work, on private property, without their consent. It will hurtle them into the spotlight, unwitting players in an ideological game. It will encourage the community to chastise Australian farmers and their employees; to shun them, to threaten them and call them names,” she said. 

“It will humiliate them in the court of public opinion, to make sure their voice is lost in the debate over sustainable native vegetation management.”

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) is not responsible for matters of privacy and while you can report a drone flying over your property, unless the drone is flying unsafely, the report will be forwarded to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

CASA plans to review recreational drone regulations and potentially have new ones in place by the end of the decade.

CASA's manager of corporate communications Peter Gibson said this will take several years at least and involve public and aviation industry consultation.

According to Choice magazine your protection against unauthorised surveillance is limited.

“The Privacy Act, for instance, only applies to organisations with an annual turnover of $3 million or more. Most recreational drone owners, it's fair to say, would be under that threshold,” Choice said.

“Anti-stalking legislation may forbid such activity in some cases, and some legal experts say recording activity on private property would be illegal in most states. Others say there really are no hard and fast rules at the moment. In any case, there's nothing encoded in law regarding recreational drones and privacy.”

The NFF President said farmers cannot simply rely on the law to protect them, because in the age of social media, the horse will have bolted long before the courts catch up. 

“This year alone, Australia’s agricultural production value is tipped to smash records and hit $64 billion; we need to support our farmers, not continually find new ways to drive them out,” Simson said.

“Drones are a great innovation that can and will help boost farm productivity if we harness their potential in the right way. But we do need to think carefully about how, where and when they can be used in the workplace, and by whom, and to what end,” she said.

“What will the Wilderness Society say if one of their drones brings down a small aircraft mustering cattle, killing the pilot on board? Will their insurance cover it?”

The Australian Association for Unmanned Systems, which released a report in 2015 called for a ban on the use of drones to record private activity, or activity that happens when people wouldn't expect to be watched or recorded.