Live sheep export ads get $2.3m from transition budget

More than $2m of the budget allocated for the sheep industry to transition away from live exports has gone to a global media company for advertising.

A $2.3m chunk of the budget allocated for the sheep industry to transition from live export has gone to a global media company for advertising.

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry awarded the lucrative tender to Universal Media, a US company with an office in Sydney.

The spend is equivalent to that allocated for rural financial counselling in Western Australia, and more than double that for programs designed to boost community wellbeing, as outlined in the official transition plan released in November.

In May last year, the federal government announced it was going to phase out the live export of sheep, with a deadline of May, 2028. A budget of $139.7m was set to help the industry move away from the trade.

The money spent on advertising the transition program was an initial contract for $2.28m, later bumped up by another $22,500 to take the total to $2.3m. The campaign included advertisements in newspapers and on radio, as well as digital and social media.

The Australian Live Exporters Council said some of the advertisements were running in areas where there weren’t even any sheep.

ALEC chief executive Mark Harvey-Sutton said questions needed to be asked about the use of money.

More than $2m of the budget allocated for the sheep industry to transition away from live exports has gone to a global media company for advertising. Picture: Supplied.

“These ads have been reported to us as far abroad as Innisfail, Queensland, and Tasmania, which are not regions generally known for their live sheep populations,” Mr Harvey-Sutton said.

“This spend is not going to help a single farmer, shearer or truckie – just blasting out the policy to the entire population.”

Mr Harvey-Sutton described the advertising push as lazy and questioned its motive.

“It adds the insult of the waste of taxpayers’ money to the injury already done to those in the industry who are now experiencing genuine harm as a result of this policy,” he said.
“The reality is the Government is using money that should be used to assist farmers to instead campaign ahead of the imminent federal election.

“Anyone affected by the policy is already aware of the phase out, they are clearly not the target of these ads.”

Victorian Farmers Federation livestock group president Scott Young said he had seen the print advertisements and questioned their value in the eastern states.

“You would have to wonder whether it is relevant to have these ads in the eastern states, where we don’t have a live export trade anymore,” Mr Young said.

A spokesman for DAFF said the majority of print and radio advertising was placed in Western Australia, in addition to digital advertisements and social media posts.

The spokesman said the campaign had run from December 16 and would finish at the end of this month.

He confirmed the tender for $2.3m with Universal Media was part of the $139.7m transition assistance package.