The Federal Government has announced it is lifting the ban on live cattle exports to Indonesia.
The ban was put in place a month ago after the ABC broadcast footage showing animal cruelty in some Indonesian slaughterhouses.
Federal Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig says the Government is now comfortable that animal welfare standards can be assured.
He says there will be strict conditions on the new export permits.
The lift of the ban comes as Australia’s cattle export industry warned many companies that transport livestock might soon go out of business.
Yesterday, a cattle station owner in Western Australia said he was planning to shoot 3,000 of his livestock because of the ban.
More to come …
• What Stop Tasmanian Animal Cruelty says …
Agriculture Minister Ludwig tonight announced that he has lifted the suspension on live cattle exports to Indonesia, in a move that does nothing to guarantee that cattle will not be subjected to the torture shown on ‘Four Corners’ a month ago that horrified and sickened all decent Australians. The program showed Australian cattle being horrifically tortured for up to half an hour before being brutally killed. The film footage showed Indonesian slaughterhouse workers kicking animals, beating them on the face with chains, breaking their tails, gouging their eyes and slashing their leg tendons. Hundreds of thousands of Australians have expressed their outrage, apparently upon the deaf ears of the Gillard government.
‘This is an absolutely despicable move by Joe Ludwig and the Gillard government’, said Stop Tasmanian Animal Cruelty’s Suzanne Cass, who organised a rally in Hobart on June 18 which attracted 400 concerned Tasmanians. Speakers at the rally included Australian Greens leader Senator Bob Brown, Tasmanian Greens Primary Industries spokesman Kim Booth, Independent member for Denison Andrew Wilkie and respected veterinarian Andrew Nicholson.
‘Ludwig has not, nor can he, provide any guarantees whatsoever that cattle will not be subjected to the treatment that we saw on “Four Corners”’, continued Ms Cass. ‘The same slaughterboxes condemned by cattle authority Professor Temple Grandin will still be in place, there is nothing to say that Australian cattle can or will be traced, and there is nothing to provide for pre-stunning. This is a sad, disgraceful day for Australia, and we are all deeply ashamed.
‘Ludwig has lifted the suspension just two days before Federal Parliament ends for the winter recess, before proper debate has occurred of the Bills from the Greens and the Independents, and before any meaningful investigation or enquiry has taken place.
‘The government has simply heard the howls of protest from wealthy “cattle barons”, and completely lost sight of the animals, the reason the suspension occurred, and failed to listen to the outrage of the Australian people’, Ms Cass concluded.
• What Andrew Wilkie, Nick Xenophon say …
Independent Senator for South Australia, Nick Xenophon, and Independent Member for Denison, Andrew Wilkie MP, will call for a conscience vote on the ban of live animal exports.
The call follows the Government’s announcement overnight that it has lifted the suspension on the live animal export trade to Indonesia.
“This Government is not listening to the very real concerns of the Australian people,” Nick said.
“We need to ensure that this barbaric and inhumane trade does not continue indefinitely. How do we have a situation where you can draw a line from Perth to Townsville and there are no abattoirs above that line?”
Senator Xenophon says that the Government’s so-called ‘compromise’ that animals will only go to approved Indonesian abattoirs is fundamentally flawed because there is no guarantee standards will be upheld.
“We must make sure that Australian animals are not tortured overseas,” Nick said.
Mr Wilkie says the Government’s decision to resume live animal exports to Indonesia before proper safeguards have been put in place is a terrible disappointment.
“While the trade should be resumed as quickly as possible, to do so at less than Australian standards is a betrayal of the animals and the millions of Australians concerned with the trade,” Andrew said.
“Australians from all walks of life have spoken loud and clear and they are demanding an end to the cruelty in the slaughterhouses of Indonesia.”
“It’s the job of MPs to represent the people, not toe the party line.”
Mr Wilkie’s Bill to ban all live animal exports within three years will be voted on in the House of Representatives in August.
“There are a growing number of backbenchers who want to vote with their conscience to legislate safeguards and end live exports in three years. Conscience votes are the best way to judge ethical issues,” Andrew said.
