Where to now for Keep the Sheep after Labor’s thumping election win?

Live export advocacy group Keep the Sheep will be “mothballed” following Labor’s thumping federal election win last month.

In an email to supporters yesterday, Keep the Sheep’s secretary and Australian Live Exporters’ Council chief executive Mark Harvey-Sutton said the organisation had been doing some reflection since the election defeat.

Protesters from Keep the Sheep seen near the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre ahead of Labor’s federal election campaign launch in April.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Harvey-Sutton said the political wind was not at their backs, not for want of trying, but now the organisation would be mothballed and spend what cash it had left from donors on maintaining the website and paying off debts.

“To minimise our costs, we rolled off the contractors who were working on Keep the Sheep following the election. This is to ensure that our ongoing donor income is directed to maintaining the website and helping us stay compliant with our obligations,” he said.

“We also left not much in the tank. We spent nearly all the money we raised on campaigning and pushing our message into key seats.

“What remains will be used to cover our debts and preserve our resources to ensure the company remains solvent and our key asset of the website is maintained.

“This essentially means we are mothballing Keep the Sheep for now. We realise this may be disappointing. But it is not the end.”

Sutton revealed there had been 12 months of work to establish Keep the Sheep before its launch last year, and the group had set the tone for future agricultural advocacy and would become a powerful voice for rural communities.

“We know that there are challenges on the horizon that will require what we have built, to create an understanding for regional communities and bring their issues to the forefront, in both regional and metro areas,” he said.

“Building a campaign of the magnitude of Keep the Sheep doesn’t just happen. In order to develop further, we need time and support to create something that honours the work each of you have put in.”

Keep the Sheep was launched in May 2024 to apply pressure on the Albanese government to overturn its planned 2028 ban on live export sheep trade.

When that legislation passed in late 2024 with a promised $139 million transition package the group turned its focus to the 2025 election and targeted seats where Labor was hopeful of victory like the new seat of Bullwinkel.

The group formed a slick digital presence with the help of Campaign Surge, a campaign agency founded by Peter Hosking, who once worked as a media adviser for Peter Dutton.

By September last year it had already fundraised more than half a million dollars and during its operation staged a nationwide convoy protest that ended in Canberra and two convoy protests through Perth.

However, its efforts were dashed at the polls after Labor secured 94 seats in the lower house and added two seats to its tally in WA in Moore and Bullwinkel.

Keep the Sheep heavily targeted Bullwinkel during the campaign and on polling day had volunteer farmers at most booths handing out material urging voters to put Labor last.

That seat was won by Labor’s Trish Cook ahead of Liberal candidate Matt Moran by 1066 votes.

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