Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I seek leave to move the following motion:

That the House:

(1) Notes that:

(a) the Federal Court has today ruled in favour of allowing the livestock carrier Al Kuwait to depart Fremantle for Kuwait with 56,000 live sheep;

(b) the live animal export industry is systemically cruel, costs Australian jobs and lacks wide-spread public support;

(c) live sheep exports to the Middle East at this particular time of the year, into the scorching heat and humidity of the Middle East summer, has been shown repeatedly to be even more cruel; and

(d) the Government's claim to have made the trade less cruel is a sham as evidenced by the exemption for the Al Kuwait and previous exemptions for the Al Shuwaikh in December 2019 and the Maysora in March 2020.

(2) Calls on the Government to:

(a) immediately prevent the Al Kuwait from departing Australia with its cargo of live sheep;

(b) commit to no more exemptions under the current regulatory framework;

(c) develop a plan to completely shut down the live animal export industry; and

(d) remove responsibility for animal welfare from Ministers and the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, and instead establish an Independent Office of Animal Welfare with the power to investigate allegations of animal cruelty and to punish people and organisations that mistreat animals.

Leave not granted.

I move:

That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent the Member for Clark from moving the following motion immediately:

That the House:

(1) Notes that:

(a) the Federal Court has today ruled in favour of allowing the livestock carrier Al Kuwait to depart Fremantle for Kuwait with 56,000 live sheep;

(b) the live animal export industry is systemically cruel, costs Australian jobs and lacks wide-spread public support;

(c) live sheep exports to the Middle East at this particular time of the year, into the scorching heat and humidity of the Middle East summer, has been shown repeatedly to be even more cruel; and

(d) the Government's claim to have made the trade less cruel is a sham as evidenced by the exemption for the Al Kuwait and previous exemptions for the Al Shuwaikh in December 2019 and the Maysora in March 2020.

(2) Calls on the Government to:

(a) immediately prevent the Al Kuwait from departing Australia with its cargo of live sheep;

(b) commit to no more exemptions under the current regulatory framework;

(c) develop a plan to completely shut down the live animal export industry; and

(d) remove responsibility for animal welfare from Ministers and the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, and instead establish an Independent Office of Animal Welfare with the power to investigate allegations of animal cruelty and to punish people and organisations that mistreat animals.

There is an urgent need for the House to consider this motion—

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