Producers say a video purporting to show Australian sheep cruelly treated in Oman does not represent the reality for the vast majority of live exported animals.
Key points:
- Producers say footage of sheep being mistreated, captured by activist group Animals Australia, is “very disappointing”
- But they ask why the group didn’t immediately pass their evidence to the Agriculture Department
- The alleged breaches are yet to be fully verified and remain under investigation
Footage captured by activist group Animals Australia and aired by ABC TV current affairs program 7.30 this week showed repeated breaches of processes put in place to protect sheep exported live from Australia.
The sheep, allegedly Australian, appeared to be mishandled by buyers in Oman but the alleged breaches are yet to be fully verified and are under investigation.
These include sheep slaughtered in unapproved locations, sheep aggressively dragged by the head and sheep unable to stand because their legs were trussed.
That footage was reportedly covertly shot in Oman during a six-week visit by an Animals Australia lawyer.
No Australian sheep have been exported to Oman since the footage was provided to the Department of Agriculture.
The release of the footage comes in the middle of a row between sheep producers and the federal government over its plan to phase out live sheep exports, a decision primarily affecting producers across Western Australia.
Australia Livestock Exporters Council (ALEC) chief executive Mark Harvey-Sutton said the footage was deeply upsetting.
“What we saw was very disappointing. It’s not good enough,” he said.
“[The 7.30 program] certainly did show concerning incidences of poor animal welfare, but I do have to emphasise that we do have a very mature and strong regulatory process in place, that being the ESCAS system.”
ESCAS stands for Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System, which approves applications to export livestock from Australia, ensuring the exporter meets national regulations.
He said it was disappointing Animals Australia had chosen not to pass the footage on sooner to the Department of Agriculture for further investigation.
“When these allegations were brought to light, the industry did respond with people who were in market, immediately seeing what was happening, reconciling records, all those sorts of things,” Mr Harvey-Sutton said.
“I am disappointed that Animals Australia last night admitted that they didn’t pass on some footage immediately to the department.
“And I go back to my point that [we have] a robust and mature regulatory system. You need to work with it.”
‘Hard to control’ overseas situation
Mid West-based livestock agent Craig Walker agreed that the footage was distressing.
But he said it was an unfortunate reality that not every situation could be controlled.
“Whether it is driving motor cars people will speed. We know drugs are illegal but people still take drugs, so there is always going to be some element of society that will break the law,” he said.
“And when it’s internationally, it’s even harder, but our industry does try to do the right thing and, by and large, we do a very, very good job.”
Middle East trade concerns
York sheep producer Peter Boyle said he was concerned by the government’s rush towards the phase-out.
With exporters some of his most significant buyers, he still holds hopes for the live sheep trade to continue in order to protect trade relationships.
“If they shut down this industry, blocking Qatar out, the Middle East won’t think very favourably of Australia at all,” he said.
“We do a huge amount of business with vegetables and other horticultural products. Our barley goes to the Middle East. They turn off from Australia.”
Ways to prevent misconduct
WA Farmers President John Hassell said any ESCAS breach was unacceptable but rejected the tactics Animals Australia used.
“We’re not even exporting sheep to Oman at the moment, so it’s disingenuous what [Animals Australia] are doing,” he said.
He believes a government body regulating the supply chain overseas is the best way to prevent incidents like that shown on 7:30.
“We’d be better off having an inspector over there saying, ‘Listen, boys, you need to tidy this up and we’ll continue to trade but if you don’t tidy it up then we won’t have a trade’,” he said.
“Let’s make sure that the standards that we have set in Australia for the rest of the world are upheld, rather than throwing the industry out and losing that standard for the rest of the world.”
