More support needed for live sheep export industry to address incoming ban, committee recommends

Australia’s multimillion live sheep export industry should be given more assistance to confront a controversial ban, a parliamentary committee has recommended.

Handing down its final report on Friday, the Labor-helmed inquiry rubber stamped the government’s proposed ban on live sheep exports by sea slated to come into effect in 2028.

But indicated the planned $107m support package for sheep farmers and other supply chain participants was not enough.

“The committee recommends that the Australian government considers making additional funding available to support the transition, potentially through the 2026 stocktake of industry progress,” the report said.

The export ban delivers on a commitment made by Labor prior to the 2022 election following concerns of ill treatment of stock en route to abattoirs overseas.

The live sheep export industry was worth $77m in the 2022-23 financial year.

Cattle and other livestock will not be affected by the proposed ban, however farmers fear the move will be a precursor to further tightening of regulation in the agriculture industry.

Despite significant efforts to reduce sheep death while at sea, with the committee’s report noting industry analysis which showed an 81 per cent reduction in mortality rates over a 10-year period, it also pointed to evidence from the Australian Veterinary Association which cited “unacceptable rates of heat stress, inanition and gastrointestinal diseases’, according to independent observers.

The grassroots ‘Keep the sheep’ petition opposing the ban amassed in excess of 56,000 signatures.

The dissenting report, tabled by the committee’s Coalition members, recommended the legislation should not be passed, and that the proposed legislation be further examined via a Senate probe on the same subject.

“A comprehensive inquiry into this Bill be undertaken by the relevant senate committee, to hear from ALL impacted communities in Western Australia, members the industry, those in the supply chain, radical animal activists, and considering all the costs and benefits of the impacts and the Bill, not reporting before December 2024,” the dissenting report read.

The value of Australia’s live sheep meat export industry has declined significantly in recent years to be just 10 per cent of size two decades earlier.

Live sheep exports comprise just 2 per cent of the overall $4.5bn Australian lamb and mutton export sector.

As the Albanese government has pushed ahead with its planned phase out of live sheep exports, farmers have moved to amass a war chest of more than $1m in a bid to target marginal seats in Western Australia at the next federal election.

Labor’s electoral grip on WA is viewed by strategists as having hit a high watermark at the 2022 federal poll.

The Coalition views seats in the agriculture and resource rich state as particularly vulnerable after legislative changes which have attracted widespread industry criticism.