The Greens have demanded Labor legislate an end date for the phase-out of live sheep exports by sea, saying the government has "dragged its feet" long enough.
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In a Bill introduced into the Senate on Wednesday, the Greens have nominated May 1, 2026 as D-Day.
Deputy Greens leader Mehreen Faruqi said that date would provide "sufficient time for market adaptation and a reasonable phase-out" and was selected to coincide with the start of the northern hemisphere summer.
"The government has dragged its feet long enough. It has been nearly a year since Labor first sought advice from a panel on phasing out live sheep export and four months since the advice was provided, yet there has been no action," she said.
"If the government is serious about animal welfare and ending live sheep exports, it must legislate an end date within this term of parliament and announce a swift phase-out plan."
"No more delay after delay, excuse after excuse, while more animals continue to suffer and die.
"It's clear the industry does not give a damn about the animals and their welfare, all they care about is their profits come hell or high water. The industry has long tried to hide and downplay the true extent of suffering involved in live export. The cold hard truth is, there is no way to make live sheep export humane or safe for animals."
The government has held fast to its 2018 policy pledge to ban the $85 million trade and was handed a report four months ago authored by an Independent Panel formed to advise it on how and when to best phaseout the industry.
Labor has also repeatedly said it will take its time to ensure the transition is managed as optimally as possible for stakeholders. Decision-making is still to reach Cabinet or go through the government's finance committee where questions around compensation for farmers will likely be discussed.
As recently as last week, Agriculture Minister Murray Watt reconfirmed in a meeting with industry that the phase out will not take place during the current term of Parliament.
The live export industry and sheep farmers have also been demanding that government release the Panel report, but in the hope that it will help save the industry and not help condemn it.
The Panel report was handed to the government on October 25 following a one-month extension.
The Legislate the Date to End Live Sheep Export Bill 2024 seeks to amend the Export Control Act to prohibit live sheep by sea exports from Australia.
The Greens also cited figures that the live sheep export trade had declined by over 70 per cent since 2018 and that Greens-commissioned independent polling conducted last June that showed "85 per cent of Australians support a phase-out."
"Senator Faruqi's Greens-led bill to end long-haul live sheep export during the northern hemisphere summer passed the Senate back in 2018 but was stalled in the House by the Coalition Government," a spokesperson said.
However, Labor's phase-out of the live sheep by sea trade comes at a brutal time for an industry getting back on its feet and opening, expanding or renewing markets.
This included a breakthrough agreement with Saudi Arabia where live sheep had not been exported from Australia since 2012 due to the kingdom's concerns over the Exporter Supply Chain Assurance Scheme.
More than 575,000 head with a value of $55m were exported to Saudi Arabia in 2009, making it the third largest Middle Eastern market for live sheep export at that time.
More than 1.2m head were shipped at the peak of the trade between the two nations.
It was also revealed last week that three new sheep and cattle markets are currently being negotiated between the Federal Government and Iran, Iraq and Morocco.
The latter is the most likely to be granted a new health certificate protocol given political issues that will stand in the way of deals with Iran and Iraq.
