‘This sets a deeply concerning precedent’: Animal welfare chapter a surprise inclusion

Agricultural groups were left in the dark about a new chapter dedicated entirely to animal welfare in the new UAE trade deal.

Australia’s first free trade agreement to feature a stand-alone chapter on animal welfare came as a surprise to the agriculture sector, industry groups say.

In November, Australia and the United Arab Emirates signed a free-trade agreement that will cut tariffs on almost all Australian products from 5 per cent to zero.

The FTA also featured two new chapters not seen before in a free-trade agreement, on sustainable agriculture and animal welfare.

The National Farmers’ Federation said little about the new inclusions at the time, despite being the most affected stakeholder.

But at a hearing last week held by parliament’s committee on treaties, the NFF’s general manager of economics and trade, Christopher Young, said the NFF was not directly consulted on the animal welfare chapter and took issue that it was left in the dark.

“Where we were disappointed is that we think there was much greater scope to share with us details around elements of the animal welfare chapter,” Mr Young said.

“This is a trade negotiation. We represent a supply chain that is the trader to our customers. This is why I’ve said that I think, if this is going forward, it should be recommended that we be the primary stakeholders looking at these separate elements.”

Australian Livestock Exporters' Council chief executive Mark Harvey-Sutton says the organisation was not consulted about the new chapter despite being directly impacted. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

At an earlier committee hearing, representatives from the Australian Live Exporters Council said they were not consulted on the new chapter, and raised concerns about the precedent it sets for future trade deals.

“We are not concerned with the chapter’s content; we are concerned about the process and the manner in which it was included.

“This chapter was included at the urging of Australia based animal activists, and its inclusion serves domestic political purposes rather than bettering the agreement in any substantive way,” the representative said.

“We believe this sets a deeply concerning precedent for the negotiation of future free trade agreements.”

The Australian Alliance for Animals said in its latest report that when negotiations on the Australia-UAE deal opened, it began engaging with negotiators from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade “through a series of meetings to ensure animal welfare was recognised in the agreement”.

The deal is yet to be ratified by parliament.