Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

It's been four months since the footage of some 2½ thousand sheep dying horrifically aboard the Emanuel Exports ship Awassi Express was released to the public. That brave decision by Faisal Ullah, a young trainee ship's officer aboard the Awassi Express, to film that haunting scene showed us unequivocal proof of the torture and agonising death that sheep experience because of the live export industry in Australia. These animals died from heatstroke. They were trapped in cages so tightly packed that they couldn't move, let alone reach water. After they died, the carcasses decomposed so quickly in the stifling heat that the crew couldn't accurately assess the death toll. Individual sheep were no longer recognisable. And what's more upsetting is that successive Australian governments have allowed this profound suffering to continue, even explicitly supporting the multinational corporations involved, when any Australian farmer would be prosecuted and possibly imprisoned if they were responsible for this kind of cruelty.

I'm pleased to be speaking to this bill, which lays out a pathway for transitioning away from these kinds of live exports sea voyages. I have to say that my office has been absolutely flooded with support for an end to this cruel practice. The Animal Export Legislation Amendment (Ending Long-haul Live Sheep Exports) Bill 2018, co-sponsored by Senator Lee Rhiannon and Senators Hinch and Storer, will ensure that, after the five-year transition period, no Australian sheep will suffer this horrific treatment ever again.

But I shouldn't have to make this speech. I should not have to stand here and call on this government to extend basic protections to living creatures. This appalling practice should have ended in 2011 when the Greens first introduced our bill into parliament to ban live sheep exports. To successive governments' national shame, we have seen them bow to corporate influence and refuse to prosecute or sanction these clear breaches of federal animal welfare laws. In fact, in 2008, Emanuel Exports was found guilty of cruelty under WA laws but had to be acquitted because state animal welfare legislation is suspended by federal laws that take over when the live export ships leave Australian shores. The federal government has known for at least a decade that this grisly, horrific practice was taking place, but the Labor and Liberal parties' gutless refusal to stand up to these wealthy corporations has seen it continue.

It's heartening that we have individual members of both sides who have introduced bills with similar objectives to this one. I also welcome all of those senators who have spoken out in support of a live export ban. But again I'm asking, as is often the case in this place: why is it that we have to wait so long for the Labor Party and the coalition to do the right thing? Across the board, the Australian community has been calling for this ban for months. The government has known about these terrible animal welfare violations for years, but once again, the Liberal Party, the National Party and the Labor Party have put those corporations ahead of ordinary people.

This bill will kick off a five-point plan to end the barbaric trade and boost jobs in regional Australia in the process. It's backed by the meat workers union and animal welfare organisations alike. It will immediately prohibit shipments of live sheep during the hottest months in the Northern Hemisphere and voyages of 10 days or more. These are the worst of the live export voyages, responsible for the most gruesome suffering, when the hot and humid conditions consistently cause bodies to shut down and death rates to reach five to 10 times the usual mortality rates on Australian farms. After a five-year transition period this bill will prohibit all live sheep exports to or through the Persian Gulf or the Red Sea, regardless of the time of year or length of voyage. It's important to immediately end the most barbaric conditions, but we also need to recognise that inherent in the live animal export industry, whether it be cattle or sheep, is cruelty to those animals. We will continue to see more footage emerge of cruelty to cattle and sheep if this trade continues, because inherent within those industries is cruelty to animals. That's why we need to support this legislation but also, over the longer term, to end all live animal exports. We need a long-term plan to support Australian workers and businesses to successfully transition to an industry which is good for jobs and investment but, most importantly, makes it clear about what standard we will accept when it comes to the treatment of animals in this nation. We support this bill, but we want to go further. We need to ensure that, once and for all, this country bans the live animal export trade.