Live exports: Call for independent animal welfare inspector-general

LABOR has upped its call for an independent animal welfare inspector-general, after an abattoir in Qatar was suspended last week for mishandling Australian sheep.

LABOR has upped its call for an independent animal welfare inspector-general, after an abattoir in Qatar was suspended last week for mishandling Australian sheep.

Opposition agriculture spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon has challenged Agriculture Minister David Littleproud to back the measure as part of his response to the latest live export scandal — and reiterated vows to introduce an independent office of animal welfare if Labor wins the next election.

The Department of Agriculture and Water Resources has suspended live exports to an abattoir in Qatar, after footage from Animals Australia revealed breaches of the Australian conditions, including mishandling of sheep and onselling sheep to private buyers.

The department said it was the first complaint it had received about exports to Qatar since Australia’s Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System rolled out in 2011.

However it is one of six investigations into regulatory compliance (including Jordan, Kuwait, the UAE, Oman, and five sea voyages) that have been launched through Animal Australia since the beginning of March this year.

It follows footage, screened a fortnight ago, of a live export journey from Fremantle to the Middle East last August, during which 2400 sheep died from heat stress.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority is waiting for the owners of that ship — the Awassi Express, which was meant to depart for the Middle East last Tuesday with 65,000 sheep on board — to conduct independent testing of its ventilation systems.

AMSA is refusing to issue a livestock carriage permit until the vessel meets minimum airflow requirements for its pens.

Mr Fitzgibbon said the abattoir’s suspension proved the need for an independent inspector-general — a position established by the previous Labor government but abolished by former agriculture minister Barnaby Joyce.

Mr Fitzgibbon also confirmed Labor would establish an independent animal welfare office — as recommended in the Government’s review into agricultural regulation, but previously ruled out by Mr Littleproud and opposed by the National Farmers’ Federation.

Mr Littleproud has announced a four-week review into the northern hemisphere summer sheep trade, and an investigation of his own department as the live export regulator.

Both Labor and the Government are resisting public calls to ban live exports.