Wilkie calls for end to live exports

DENISON MP Andrew Wilkie has called for an end to the live animal export trade after footage of animal cruelty and sheep deaths was aired on national television.

“The latest footage of conditions on board live export ships bound to the Middle East is nothing short of appalling,” Mr Wilkie said of Sunday night’s 60 Minutes coverage.

“But we’ve known for years that the worst offenders are these sheep ships travelling to the Middle East, on which animal fatalities are often way beyond government standards and records are routinely falsified.”

The footage comes on top of news last week that 2400 sheep died on a ship bound for the Middle East.

A ship Awassi Express with 65,000 sheep on board has been held up in Fremantle by regulators.

Mr Wilkie said the footage was proof that the “vile trade” should be shut down immediately.

“The latest evidence demonstrates clearly that these exporters are breaching federal and state laws, as well as international standards,” he said.

“The industry treats us like mugs when it says this isn’t representative of the live export industry as a whole...

“To allow this trade to continue is simply unconscionable and, if he allows it to continue, the Minister for Agriculture will, just like his predecessors, be complicit in animal cruelty.”

Australian Livestock Exporters council CEO Simon Westaway said the council rec- ognised that Mr Wilkie was a politician who had held to his convictions over the years.

“There was a bad outcome last year, there is no doubt about that, but standards have improved a long way and will continue to improve,” he said.

He said sheep numbers on the Awassi Express would be reduced from 65,000 to 55,000 for the proposed voyage.

Mr Westaway said no sheep from Tasmania were among the 2 million sheep exported annually to the Middle East.

The Animal Justice party said the trade should be banned because of unnecessary cruelty.

Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association chief executive Peter Skillern said it had been many years since Tasmanian sheep had been exported live.