Live animal exports: Legislation passes to end live sheep exports by sea from Australia

Anti-live export campaigners during a petition handover at Parliament in Wellington on June 25. Photo / Mark Mitchell

By: Liv Casben, AAP

Live sheep exports by sea will end in May 2028 after the Australian Senate passed the legislation in a late-night sitting.

Last-minute lobbying by West Australian farmers and business owners was not enough to have the legislation blocked, with Labor forcing the bill through the Senate on Monday night.

The proposal will mean an end to live sheep exports by sea on May 1, 2028, with a $107 million (NZ$117m) transition package to flow to affected farmers.

“This is an election commitment that we took to not just one, but two elections, and we’re now delivering on that election commitment as Australians would expect us to do so,” Agriculture Minister Murray Watt told the Senate on Monday.

Keep the Sheep supporters travelled to Canberra on Monday to again plead their case, and they vowed to target marginal Labor seats if the legislation passed.

“We will be targeting every marginal Labor seat across this country to try and get what we need,” president of WA Farmer’s John Hassell told a media conference in Canberra on Monday.

The coalition has vowed to overturn the legislation if it is re-elected.

“If you vote for the coalition, you vote for a vibrant sheep industry in Western Australia,” West Australian Liberal Senator Michaelia Cash said on Monday night.

“There are some very basic questions that need to be answered by the prime minister in relation to turning his back on Western Australia ... Why do you hate WA farmers so much?”

But Senator Watt said the live sheep export trade had been shrinking for some time.

“We know this is an industry that’s been in long-term decline ... and the numbers of sheep being exported by sea have fallen by 90 per cent over the last 20 years,” Senator Watt said.

The legislation also won the support of Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi who wanted the trade dropped because of animal welfare concerns.

“Nothing can be done to make live export ships safe for animals, this cruel trade is irredeemable, and the only option is to shut it down,” Senator Faruqi told the Senate on Monday night.

“Now it is beyond time, to shut down this industry, once and for all.”

In June angry farmers warned a parliamentary inquiry that travelled to regional Western Australia some WA towns will die if the legislation is passed.

Labor vowed to end the trade following animal rights concerns after thousands of sheep died of heat stress while en route to the Middle East.

-AAP