Separating fact from fiction: Why a phase-out of live sheep export is good for the economy and animal welfare
Gav Wheatley / HIDDEN / We Animals Media (2018).
Live sheep export has been in the news a lot lately. And with good reason – it’s an issue close to the heart of many Australians, and a phase-out of the trade was a key election promise of the Albanese Labor Government. Recently, supporters of the trade have been vocal in the media, claiming that a phase-out is unnecessary for animal welfare and will lead to significant economic and job loss for Australia. We’re here to help you separate the fact from the fiction by explaining why a phase-out is a positive for both the Australian economy and animal welfare.
FACT - Phasing out live sheep export will increase jobs and economic value for Australia
The live sheep export trade has been in long term structural decline for decades, with sea export numbers dropping from over 6 million sheep in 2002 to 570,000 last year. The industry is now almost entirely concentrated in Western Australia, and while sheep farming remains an important part of agricultural production in WA, that’s no longer the case for live export.
The live sheep export trade has been in decline for years, reducing significantly over the past decade. Source: ABARES.
In 2020-21, only 10% of the 5.6 million sheep leaving WA farms were sold for live export. The reality is that the majority (60-80%) of sheep and lambs raised in WA are slaughtered locally, with 90% of this meat exported chilled and frozen to over 40 different countries. So it’s the meat export industry, not live export, that’s the mainstay of sheep farming in WA. Given the relatively small size of the live trade, it’s surprising that claims are being made that a phase-out would result in significant job losses.
Industry lobby groups claim that a phase-out of this already declining trade would result in job losses for 3,500 people. However, this figure was reached through unsubstantiated reasoning by an industry commissioned report, subsequently discredited by expert analysis commissioned by Animals Australia.
In fact, an Australian Government report found quite the opposite – that a move to process sheep in Australia would likely increase total employment in Western Australia due to the additional jobs required in local abattoirs.
The reality is that creating more jobs onshore is the more rational economic option. The chilled meat trade is an established viable alternative, with strong growth over the past decade. In fact, export of chilled lamb to the Middle East increased 187% between 2009-2019. Processing in Australia contributes more to the economy than exporting sheep live on boats. Moreover, a phase-out would incentivise the expansion of additional prime lamb and wool production, which translates to more jobs on farms.
Calls to continue live sheep export have no basis in sound economics, and are becoming increasingly out of step with a majority of Australians who want to see a phase-out of this outdated trade.
FICTION - New regulations protect sheep from heat stress and other welfare issues
The live export industry maintains that new regulations introduced in the wake of the infamous Awassi Express voyage in 2017 where 2400 sheep died from heat stress, adequately address the issue of heat stress and other key welfare problems.
However, the limited ban on exporting sheep into the northern summer was never sufficient to adequately protect sheep from the risk of heat stress. In fact, an independent review concluded that stopping the trade for half the year (May – October, inclusive) was the only way to effectively reduce the risk.
The Morrison Government chose to largely ignore the science, and implemented a shorter ban period which independent observer reports confirm is failing to effectively prevent heat stress. Despite the evidence, earlier this year the former Government reduced the ban period even further for certain export destinations, demonstrating the precarious nature of sheep welfare protection in the live export trade.
As a result of the ban, mortality rates have declined - but this doesn’t mean that the welfare issues in the trade have been solved. The live export industry often points to reduced mortality rates on board ships (fewer deaths) as a measure of good animal welfare performance. Yet mortality rates have been consistently criticised as an extreme and inaccurate tool for measuring the welfare of sheep on board. They only record the number of sheep that suffer to the point of death, failing to capture the suffering of sheep that survive the voyage.
Accordingly, using mortality rates as a welfare indicator artificially deems low mortality voyages a success regardless of the extent of suffering experienced during the journey. For these reasons, relying on mortality rates as a performance indicator was thoroughly discredited by a 2018 review into the trade, prompting the Department of Agriculture agreeing to move away from their use.
Australian sheep on board live export vessels can experience life-threatening levels of heat stress. Welfare risks in live sheep export cannot simply be ‘regulated out’ - they are inherent to the system.
And while the issue of heat stress has dominated media attention and public debate, it is only one of several serious welfare problems associated with live export. These problems include the welfare impacts of high stocking densities on ships and ammonia build-up from animal waste, the inevitable illnesses and injuries resulting from the challenging living conditions on board, and the poor handling and slaughter practices in the importing countries. Not to mention the inevitable deaths on board.
For those sheep that do reach importing countries, Australian regulations require them to be treated in compliance with the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) standards. However, these standards permit slaughter without pre-stunning, meaning that it is perfectly legal for Australian sheep to be slaughtered overseas whilst fully conscious – and in fact most are slaughtered this way. Sheep that are conscious during throat cutting are exposed to significant animal welfare risks and experience pain before death. By contrast in Australia, all Halal-accredited export abattoirs practice stunning.
There are also serious issues with regulatory compliance and monitoring in importing countries, with 189 breaches of the key regulatory system (ESCAS) reported since 2012. Concerningly, over the past decade many thousands of Australian animals have been found outside of approved supply chains, subject to often cruel treatment which fails to meet either Australian or WOAH animal welfare standards.
Welfare risks in live sheep export cannot simply be ‘regulated out’ - they are inherent to the system. If regulations were introduced to truly address these issues and improve animal welfare, the trade would quickly become economically unfeasible. It is simply not possible to have a properly regulated and profitable live sheep export trade, due to the unavoidable conflict between improving sheep welfare and protecting exporter profits. This explains why the full recommended northern summer ban period (6 months) and other recommended reforms were never implemented, as doing so would have rendered the trade unprofitable.
FACT - It’s time to phase out the live sheep export trade and create a national animal welfare commission
In a big win for animal welfare, the recently elected Albanese Labor Government has committed to phasing out the live sheep export trade once and for all.
As this will involve a significant transition for those involved in the industry, the Government needs to provide appropriate guidance and support. By investing in more value-adding opportunities within Australian supply chains, promoting the expansion of international markets, and assisting producers with interim adjustment costs, the Government can ensure that animal welfare is upheld while supporting farmers in the transition.
However, the Government hasn’t yet committed to a timeline for the phase-out. So we all have an important opportunity to engage with our representatives to make sure the trade is phased out over an appropriate timeframe and legislation is introduced to commence the phase-out as soon as possible during this term of government.
To help ensure that any future welfare standards and policies align with community expectations and contemporary animal welfare science, a national animal welfare commission also needs to be established. Find out why here. Encouragingly, the new Government has promised to introduce a version of this reform by committing to invest $1 million each year to fund an ‘Inspector-General for Animal Welfare’ to oversee national animal welfare strategy.
Read more here about what the Federal Election outcome means for animals.
What can you do?
You can do three things.
Contact your local federal MP to let them know that you support a phase-out of live sheep export within the shortest timeframe possible.
Share this blog with your networks to help fact check the debate on live sheep export.
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Credit (Photo 3): Jo-Anne McArthur/Israel Against Live Shipments/We Animals Media (2018).