Live sheep end kills wool as well

It is enough to depress a jolly jumbuck – Australia isn’t riding on the Merino’s back, with wool production at a century low.

It is not all due to drought or even present depressed demand; there is virtue-signalling by the Albanese government, which has rushed a plan to stop live sheep exports by 2028.

Industry experts proposed phasing the industry out over 12 years but the government wants it gone in three.

This might knit in with Labor plans to stop the Greens winning east coast city seats at the imminent election by appealing to voters who consider the trade cruel.

The memory of heat-stress deaths of sheep en route to the Middle East in 2017 lingers in the community.

But the requirement that livestock exports can only leave by sea with the approval of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, and never in the northern hemisphere summer, does not.

A too-early end to live exports might tick a ballot paper box for Labor candidates in Greens-inclined electorates such as the Prime Minister’s.

But it unravels livelihoods for Western Australian sheep farmers who rely on exporting live sheep past their prime to the Middle East to meet the demand for mutton that is killed according to religious requirements.

As Charlie Peel has reported, the WA flock reduced by 25 per cent last year, with suggestions it will shrink by the same again this year.

Farmers across the country are also taking the hint that for Labor they are but lambs to the political slaughter. The imminent end of live exports is looming, while national wool production is expected to be down 12 per cent this financial year. Doubtless this is due in part to fluctuating prices but it also reflects fears that if the government can end the live export industry, it can do the same to wool. There is a case for such caution; there are activists who oppose wool-growing and shearing.

And Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi in December argued: “Animals are sentient beings who deserve care and respect, and we urgently need federal laws that reflect these values.” An admirable sentiment to be sure, but one that must be moderated in this case by the rights of farmers to humanely earn a living and by the government considering the economic impact of running down an industry that started in 1797, when the first Merinos arrived.

As we report on Saturday, miners are upset at the way the Albanese government takes their taxes but ignores advice on how they can best contribute to the economy.

WA live sheep exporters and their wool-growing colleagues across the country have good reason to feel the same.