On the brink of calling for a halt to factory farming

It's been a landmark year for the animals. Public and media concern for the 500 million sentient beings that are mass-produced for food each year in Australia has never been higher and is now backed in some instances by regulatory muscle.

After Four Corners' expose of horrific abuse of Australian cattle in Indonesia last year, the program followed up in 2012 by bringing to light unspeakable cruelty to animals on a mass scale, in particular towards sheep exported to the Middle East.

Clearly, this current affairs flagship considers animal protection to be a policy issue of significant public importance, devoting substantial investigative resources to tackling it on a continuing basis.