SHEEP SET TO SUFFER AS LIVE EXPORT TRADE CONTINUES

It has been 13 weeks since Agriculture Minister David Littleproud brought the live sheep export trade to a temporary stop.  The Turnbull/Morrison Government has provided no assistance to sheep meat producers in that time.

But the Minister has given the trade the green light again, despite the fact that nothing has changed.

The MV Maysora is about to be loaded with 30,000 sheep for a voyage into the sweltering Middle Eastern summer.

The Australian Veterinary Association has warned exports to the Middle East should not occur from May to October because sheep will remain susceptible to heat stress and will perish due to the extreme climatic conditions.

The temperature in Kuwait at 10.00am today was a scorching 41 degrees and rising.

There is no way the live sheep export trade meets animal welfare or community expectations.

Meanwhile, Liberal Members Sussan Ley and Sarah Henderson have back-flipped and voted against their own Bill to end the live sheep trade.

Sussan Ley has claimed: “Sarah Henderson and I are doing the hard yards behind the scenes and we’ve already seen results:  we have not seen a shipment of live sheep leave Australia since the 6th of June and I cannot see any now until October at least. So effectively there has been no trade during the northern summer, the critical time, where sheep are under enormous stress.”

Henderson and Ley have done absolutely nothing to end live sheep exports since accepting positions in the junior ministry. This latest voyage could have been stopped if they stuck to their convictions and voted with Labor to end the cruel live sheep trade.

Labor voted in support of the Senate bill to phase out live sheep exports because the horrors of the live sheep trade have been exposed and something must be done.