More than 20 farming groups have written to PM Anthony Albanese pleading for the government to overturn its plan to ban live exports of sheep. The government has promised to phase out the trade, but so far hasn't said when. The letter comes as sheep prices collapse, hitting lows not seen in Australia for more than a decade.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00 The Labor government has promised to ban live exports of sheep from Australia, a promise
00:06 it's taken to the last two elections.
00:08 But in a letter that's been sent to the Prime Minister today, there's 23 farming groups
00:13 and organisations, including groups you might not consider are so relevant to the topic,
00:18 like dairy farmers and grain producers.
00:20 And they're really pleading with the Australian government to abort its decision to phase
00:24 out live sheep, saying this could jeopardise Australia's trading relationship, particularly
00:30 with countries in the Middle East, where Australia does tend to send the majority of its live
00:34 sheep exports.
00:35 So this is a bit of a last ditch effort from the industry, as the government considers
00:40 exactly how and when it will ban sheep exports by sea.
00:45 Sheep prices have taken a dive, Cath.
00:47 Why is that?
00:48 Yeah, well, this letter actually really coincides with some of the lowest prices we've seen
00:53 for sheep in Australia since 2007.
00:57 And if you look at social media, there are some angry farmers there who are suggesting
01:01 that this policy from the Australian government, albeit to phase out sheep without a deadline
01:06 on the trade, has contributed to that.
01:09 But the Agriculture Minister, Murray Watt, was asked directly about this on ABC Radio
01:14 earlier this week, and he made it clear that the downturn in prices coincides with the
01:19 largest flop that we've seen in Australia, I think since 2007.
01:22 And it's an issue of oversupply.
01:24 There are so many sheep in the marketplace that we've seen prices fall, in some cases
01:29 to below returns of less than a dollar per head per sheep for growers.
01:33 So it's certainly a very frustrating time.
01:35 But I would point out that this letter today from these 23 farming organisations didn't
01:40 actually draw on the price of sheep.
01:43 It's just that this is a significant issue that's affecting producers right around Australia
01:47 at the moment.
01:48 Kath, when will the government release its plans to phase out live sheep exports?
01:54 The government's employed an independent panel to advise it on the best way to phase out
01:58 sheep and I think essentially tell it when to set a deadline on the trade.
02:02 We know that animal rights groups would like to see the trade phased out sooner rather
02:06 than later, and have in fact suggested a date in 2026.
02:10 The independent panel was expected to report to the government today, but it's sort of
02:15 a deadline, so we're not expecting that report to go to government until next month now.
02:20 But it's very unclear as to when the government will make the recommendations of the independent
02:24 panel public.
02:25 It could be quite some time yet.
02:27 Okay, Kath Sullivan reporting from Canberra.
02:31 Thank you.
02:31 [BLANK_AUDIO]