Live sheep export task force chair admits ban will hurt farmers

Fired-up exporters want Agriculture Minister Murray Watt to extend the live sheep ban panel’s reporting deadline after “extraordinary” comments from its chair.

Farm leaders have seized on comments made by the government’s Live Sheep Export Consultation Panel chair after he admitted the ban would negatively impact farmers.

Phillip Glyde is also reported as saying that the September 30 reporting deadline did not leave the task force much time to “get across the details of how the industry works, who the players are, and what are going to be the consequences of this transition”.

The federal government recently reconfirmed its promise to stop the live sheep export trade by 2025.

Australian Livestock Exporters Council chief executive Mark Harvey-Sutton called on Agriculture Minister Murray Watt to extend the deadline.

Australian Livestock Exporters' Council chief executive officer Mark Harvey-Sutton.

“It is extraordinary that the chair of this panel is openly and publicly admitting that this policy will do nothing but damage farmers,” he said.

“It is also extraordinary that (Mr Glyde) is admitting the panel does not have enough time to completely understand the industry and the implications of this policy. The question that arises is why the rush?

“This is not a standard process – we are talking about the end of an industry and there are significant implications for people’s livelihoods, regional communities, the sheep industry and national economy.

“Phillip Glyde is acknowledging the magnitude of his task.”

Live Sheep Export Consultation Panel chair Phillip Glyde at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: Kym Smith

In a recent media interview, Mr Glyde said “clearly this sort of policy change will adversely affect the industry, so how do we make the best of it?”

“There’s a lot of detail … and a lot to understand. Make it known to us that you don’t support the policy, but at the same time, let us know what we can do to ease that transition should it occur — and the government has made it pretty clear that it’s going to occur,” he told WA publication Countryman.

National Farmers' Federation CEO Tony Mahar. Picture: AAP Image/Lukas Coch

A report recently handed to federal parliament revealed an average sheep voyage

mortality rate of 0.18 per cent in the second half of 2022, a steady decline from 0.80 per cent in 2016.

“How is the phase out panel going to gain an understanding of this industry and the

impacts the policy will have on the community if it feels rushed?” National Farmers Federation CEO Tony Mahar said.

“It beggars belief the government is progressing this policy when even the person

charged with phasing out the trade has admitted what we all know: this will hurt

farmers.

“And the panel’s job is to help farmers ‘make the best of it’. What is the point of continuing with this policy other than acquiescing to activist ideology?”

The federal government was contacted for comment but did not respond by deadline.

Sheep being loaded on trucks bound for live export in Western Australia in March 2023. Picture: Philip Gostelow