This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Former Liberal party frontbencher Sussan Ley has announced plans to introduce a private member’s bill to end live sheep exports, as the industry moves to quell public criticism by adopting new animal welfare measures.

Ley told Sky News on Thursday that she was “deadly serious” about ending the trade.

“I want to see this live sheep trade permanently cease and I will use as much as I can the forums of the parliament … to help legitimise this,” she said.

The live export industry has proposed reducing the number of animals allowed on ships, permitting independent inspectors on vessels, and supporting an independent inspector general of animal welfare, in a concession to public concerns after the release of shocking live-exports footage.

The Australian Live Export Council chairman, Simon Crean, said changes proposed by industry were adopted at a meeting in Brisbane on Wednesday to help drive cultural change in the industry.

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“Today the livestock export industry delivers on its commitment to change,” he said. “Exporters are listening to the community and acting decisively to achieve change in the industry. The welfare of the animals and the future of our industry depends on it.”

Exporters also said they would commit to reducing the number of stock on board, but did not specify by how much.

Veterinarians have said a minimum 50% reduction was necessary to improve welfare on voyages in the Middle Eastern summer.

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The agriculture minister, David Littleproud, has announced two urgent reviews into the live export trade and its regulation, including one focused on reducing animals’ heat stress on ships headed to the Middle East and North Africa during the northern hemisphere summer, the deadliest time of year.



It also follows Western Australia’s announcement that it intended to use its Animal Welfare Act to force changes in the way sheep are transported out of Fremantle, the port that handles 88% of live-sheep exports.

Both Littleproud and the shadow agriculture minister, Joel Fitzgibbon, have criticised live exporters and poor regulation by the Department of Agriculture but have so far stopped short of calling for an end to the trade.

Fitzgibbon told Guardian Australia Labor would “continue to insist standards be reviewed and improved”. He did not express a position on Ley’s proposed ban, citing an agreement to work on a bipartisan basis with the government, but did not rule it out.

But Labor MP Josh Wilson gave strong support for a ban, saying he had “always opposed the live sheep export, a trade that occurs almost exclusively out of my electorate of Fremantle”.

“The community I represent knows this trade is inherently cruel and that animal suffering on these journeys is not the exception but the rule,” he said.

“It’s time for the trade to end ... The government should abandon its role as an apologist for the systemic mistreatment of animals and work to create a transition package as a matter of urgency.”

Planned changes in the industry include placing an independent inspector on live-export ships during the 2018 Middle Eastern summer.

That condition was imposed on the Awassi Express, the ship that featured in whistleblower footage showing sheep dying and suffering heat stress. Because of ventilation problems, the Awassi has yet to be cleared to sail by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority.

The Australian Live Export Council took the federal government to court in 2008 to oppose a 10-15% reduction in stock numbers and also opposed a shelved 2012 review of the Australian standards for the export of livestock which recommended a drop in numbers.



The committee given the 2017 review was due to meet in Canberra on Thursday.

It is chaired by a former Liberal senator, Chris Back, whose “passionate defence” of the live export industry was noted in a valedictory speech by the finance minister, Mathias Cormann, last year.

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Crean said exporters would also support the Labor policy of establishing an inspector general for animal welfare, suggesting it could be made an extension of the role of the inspector general of biosecurity, which operates from within the agriculture department.

“The role of inspector general would help oversee independence and cultural change in our industry and work constructively with exporters to improve animal welfare outcomes,” Crean said.

The industry also renewed calls for a livestock global assurance program to ensure that animals are treated in accordance with international guidelines at all points in the supply chain. The idea has been in development by the industry for some time and received $8.3m in federal funds.

The welfare groups RSPCA and Animals Australia have said the inspector general’s role must be independent from the department, arguing that the department has a fundamental conflict due to its dual responsibilities of promoting agricultural trade and supporting animal welfare.

The RSPCA wrote to the department this week offering to place an RSPCA observer on board the next eight long-haul sheep shipments, the first of which is scheduled to leave Fremantle on Friday.

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The RSPCA’s chief scientist, Dr Bidda Jones, said the industry was not serious about transparency and improving animal welfare and had instead offered “secrecy and weasel words”.

“A serious response to the community’s concerns would be halving stocking density, stopping May to October exports, and locking in plans to phase out the trade,” Jones said. “Anything less is an insult to the tens of thousands of taxpaying Australians who continue to demand real change.”