Items made of elephant ivory and rhinoceros horn are regularly, and legally, sold in Australia, but the Government is considering a change to the laws.

The Australian Parliament is considering following the UK's lead by banning the sale and purchase of ivory and horn within the country and is holding public hearings in Sydney and Melbourne this week.

Ivory sold in Australia with 'little or no respect' for the rules

Ivory is widespread in Australia and ranges enormously in value.

There are ancient, decorative artworks from Asia, carved tusks and hunting "trophies".

At the other end of the scale, there are household items with small amounts of ivory, such as cutlery, jewellery and musical instruments.

"Whole tusks, carved tusks, if they're ancient, tend to be valuable," explained Jane Raffan from the Auctioneers and Valuers Association of Australia.

"But most things sold at auction, frankly, in terms of volume, are what you would call trinkets.

"A lot of items are less than a couple of hundred dollars, really."

Ivory is more likely to be bought and sold at local antique shops and second-hand dealers. ( Supplied: For the Love of Wildlife )

Those items are more likely to be bought and sold at local antique shops and second-hand dealers.

Rhino horn is far less common, but since 2001, 70 items have been sold at auction.

Two 17th-century Chinese "libation cups" made from rhinoceros horn sold for $183,000 each.

A "large and impressive" black rhinoceros horn dated only as being from the mid-20th century was sold for $156,000.

In Australia it is an offence to possess elephant and rhinoceros specimens imported after the introduction of the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) in 1975.

Ivory and horn "harvested" before 1975 can be traded internationally if there's evidence of its provenance — but that can be as limited as a statutory declaration from the owner.

Pre-1975 items can be sold domestically without any legal requirement to prove their age or provenance.

Members of the Australian Antique and Art Dealers Association have a voluntary code of practice that bans trade in ivory after 1947.

The association says its members are experienced in identifying items that were produced after 1947.

In a submission to the parliamentary inquiry, auction house Leonard Joel states that, in practice, compliance is rare.

"The bulk of ivory is sold week-in week-out at auction houses across Australia with little or no interest or respect for the regulatory regime in place," he told AM.

Should Australia follow the UK?

Earlier this year, the UK introduced new laws to parliament that have been regarded as the world's toughest on ivory sales.

It bans the sale of all ivory, with limited exemptions for rare items of "outstandingly high artistic, cultural or historical value" dated before 1918.

It also allows the sale of items with minimal ivory content: 10 per cent for artworks and 20 per cent for musical instruments.

Museums will also be exempt from the UK's new laws.

Numerous animal welfare groups have urged the parliamentary committee to consider the same legislation for Australia.

The Auctioneers and Valuers Association of Australia backs that position, too.

"This is entirely feasible for Australia, which is a very small market in comparison [to the UK]," said vice-president Jane Raffan.

The US, France and China have also moved to shut down domestic trade in ivory and horn.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 7 minutes 34 seconds 7 m Conservationists cast doubt on China's ivory trade ban ( Matthew Carney )

Old ivory vs new – how hard is it to tell the difference?

Some animal welfare groups have told the parliamentary inquiry they have evidence of a flourish underground trade.

Donalea Patman from For the Love of Wildlife describes the illegal trade in new ivory as "rampant."

"There's an assumption that if the items are in Australia, they must be legal," she said.

"What we're finding is that they're illegal items allowed to be laundered through our domestic trade because there are no checks and balances."

"Most people are absolutely shocked that [a total ban] is not already in place," says Donalea Patman. ( Supplied: For the Love of Wildlife )

The organisation has given evidence to the parliamentary committee of traders describing how almond oil and tea can be used to stain ivory to make it look older than it is.

More than 300 ivory items and 26 rhino horn items were seized between 2010 and 2016, according to figures from the Department of Home Affairs.

That includes a seizure of 110 kilograms of unworked elephant tusks from Malawi in 2015.

But many animal welfare groups are convinced monitoring of cargo coming into Australia is insufficient and much more ivory and horn is entering the country.

"Given the plight of these iconic species, I think the lack of political will globally is really quite gob-smacking," said Ms Patman.

"Most people are absolutely shocked that [a total ban] is not already in place."

Online marketplace eBay banned the sale of all ivory internationally back in 2009. ( Supplied: For the Love of Wildlife )

Some retailers have concluded that a total ban on all sales would be easiest.

Online marketplace eBay banned the sale of all ivory internationally back in 2009.

In their submission to the Australian parliamentary inquiry into trade in elephant ivory and rhino horn, they said it was "to avoid legal ivory trade feeding the illegal ivory market".

It was also a decision of expediency.

"Distinguishing legal from illegal ivory is extremely complex and time consuming, making enforcement of a partial ban impractical," eBay said in their submission.

But the Australian Antique and Arts Dealers Association believes a total ban would create a black market.

National president Dawn Davis says there is no illegal trade in ivory and horn at the moment, but that would change if all sales were banned.

"[It] would be counter-productive, as it would force the trade underground to an unmanageable black market," she said.

Ms Davis also says a total ban would be "catastrophic" and "unfair" for antique dealers, rendering valuable, old ivory worthless for no real gain.

Auction house Leonard Joel says their business has not been affected by a voluntary phasing out of ivory and horn. ( Supplied: For the Love of Wildlife )

"That's not what the whole argument is about. The argument is about stopping poaching in elephants and trade in modern ivory," she said.

"Works of art made of ivory have a legitimate right to be traded, where the value is as much the quality of the work of art, rather than in the material in which it was crafted."

Auction house Leonard Joel used to be the largest trader of ivory at auction in Australia, but in 2016 began voluntarily phasing out the sale of ivory and horn.

"There was simply no ethical or commercial reason that could possibly justify in our mind the continued trade in these materials," he told AM.

Since then, sales for the auction house have exceeded expectations: "objective commercial proof that our business was unaffected."