INDEPENDENT MP Andrew Wilkie has tabled a private members bill in federal parliament seeking to end the live export sector.
It was the fifth time Mr Wilkie has sought to introduce the Live Animal Export Prohibition (Ending Cruelty) Act, which prohibits the export of live animals for slaughter from 1 July 2023 and in the interim put in place additional animal welfare safeguards.
The bill was previously tabled last year but received support from neither the government nor the opposition.
“It is the fifth time the bill has been introduced and it remains necessary,” Mr Wilkie told the House, noting he previously tabled the bill in December last year.
“Since that time, there have been a number of significant and worrying developments,” he said.
“For example, in June 2020 the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment granted an exemption to the northern summer live export ban allowing approximately 35,000 sheep to be shipped into the scorching Middle East summer on the vessel Al Kuwait.”
Mr Wilkie also made note of other examples of the mistreatment of Australian livestock going back to 2003.
