Animals Australia reports:
Federal Parliament was today presented with a historic opportunity to end Australia’s cruellest trade. Damning evidence and a tide of public outrage has emboldened many Labor MPs to speak out against the trade in recent months. But today, without a conscience vote to permit these politicians to vote against party policy, their voices were all silenced.
Despite this result, our efforts are clearly having an impact. Recognising that a ban on live exports has the support of the public, Andrew Wilkie and The Australian Greens have announced that they will reintroduce legislation on live export.
After 30 years, live export is now an issue of significance that politicians can no longer ignore. With the continued exposure of this brutal industry, and the efforts of everyday Australians calling on their representatives for change, it is not a question
of if live export will end, but when.
QCA note: The investigation revealing appallingly cruel treatment of cattle in Indonesian slaughterhouses, which led to a brief suspension of the trade there, was by no means the first. What does it take for the government to realise that not only is this trade unethical, it is impossible even to regulate in a decent fashion?
We are now informed:
Today, Animals Australia publicly released evidence gathered during a recent investigation in Turkey. The footage documents routine practices in facilities that receive Australian animals – cattle and sheep are hoisted by their hind legs before having their throats cut whilst fully conscious.
Please visit www.animalsaustralia.org
QCA note: We have over the course of several years supported Australian campaigners against this industry – and those few politicans who work for a ban – and shall continue to do so.
Here is the latest update from Suzanne Cass:
Wilkie and Bandt spoke to an almost empty chamber – apart from a couple of hecklers – then all the others, both sides, rushed in to vote the Bills down.
Meanwhile, the 31 year old former car carrier the Al Messilah broke down just after leaving Port Adelaide ten days ago, with 67,000 sheep on board. It was ordered to return to port, and they are only now getting the sheep off. More than 300 are reportedly already dead. This ship has an appalling track record of breakdowns and mortalities, and they are reporting that another ship, the almost as old and every bit as bad Al Shuwaikh is to be sent to Adelaide to pick up those poor survivors in a couple of weeks.
There are two current enquiries, one is a Senate enquiry, chaired by the farmer Senator Bill Heffernan and an ‘independent’ review undertaken by a former Indonesian ambassador Bill Farmer. Neither enquiry has in its terms of reference a ban or phase out of the trade. Both are closed now, more information can be read at:-
www.stoptac.org www.liveexportshame.com www.aact.org.au