Australian Greens Spokesperson for Animal Welfare, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, has today announced that she will introduce a Greens bill to ban all live export for slaughter, including sheep and cows, when Parliament resumes. Footage has been released by animal welfare activists in Israel showing cruelty towards cattle being unloaded in hot and crowded conditions with electric shock prodders. Dozens of calves died on board the ship and after unloading.
Senator Faruqi said:
"Live export cannot be made be made safe for sheep, cattle or any animal. It is a business model built on cruelty and is simply incompatible with animal welfare.
"These episodes of animal cruelty are just the latest in more than thirty years of scandal, suffering and brutality in the live export industry. This is just business as usual for live exporters, especially now that they have a Minister who dismisses animal welfare.
"The Greens have long argued that we should be banning all live export for slaughter and introducing this bill is part of the campaign to make that a reality.
"The recent deaths of hundreds of Australian dairy cows in Sri Lanka has highlighted big problems with the live export of animals for breeding. This requires far more stringent safeguards, and perhaps even a ban as our New Zealand neighbours are considering.
"We make no apologies for standing up for the welfare of animals. We need a phased ban with a structural adjustment assistance fund which can transition the industry to the chilled meat trade," she concluded.
