Beware of questionable mandates

On the 3rd of March this year the Federal Minister for Agriculture, Murray Watt, announced plans to push ahead with a phase-out of live sheep exports (by sea) from Australia. This is a decision that will impact Western Australia more than any other state or territory in Australia.

Last year 99.2% of the 502,758 sheep shipped from Australia came from WA.

The industry is worth $92m in trade and employs around 3000 people. More importantly however Australia is the only country that actively improves animal welfare standards in the countries they send livestock to.

If Australia ceases to supply livestock, other countries with lesser standards will supply it, to the detriment of improvement of animal welfare globally. In addition to the influence Australia has at the other end of the journey, Australian sheep are reared and transported under one of the most highly regulated animal welfare regimes in the world. The phase-out decision should ring alarm bells that any legitimate production industry could fall victim to political expediency and sectional interests. Will live cattle exports or livestock transport be next?

We’ve already seen what has happened to the timber industry in our South West.

Minister Watt claims that live sheep exports has lost its ‘social licence’. I can’t help wondering what an industry needs to do to maintain this nebulous accreditation. Who is the judge and are they impartial?

The live export industry has invested heavily in improving welfare management on board vessels. The industry today is not the same as it was in 2017 with significant changes being made since then. Improvements include increased space for each animal on board, improved ventilation, independent observers on every journey, heat management plans, automatic environmental sensors and a moratorium on shipments to the Middle East during the northern hemisphere summer.

Heat stress is no longer an adverse animal issue on vessels. The issue has been addressed. Still, this is not enough for the shady arbiters of ‘social licence’. So much for decisions being evidence based.

It is not only live export in the firing line. There are ramifications for other commodities that we trade in the same markets our sheep go to. International trade is a finely balanced act, reliant on good will and reliability, particularly where cultural needs are at the forefront of discussions. To suggest that our Middle East markets will replace boxed and chilled meat with live meat, completely misrepresents the structure of the market.

The Middle East is already a large customer for chilled and frozen, but this trade exists cohesively with the trade in live animals which is their preference. It is arrogant in the extreme to suggest that we as a Western country should attempt to dictate the cultural demands and food security needs of a trading partner.

A good example of the trade risks posed by the phase-out is what happened in 2012 when Saudi Arabia stopped importing Australia’s live sheep. The Saudis did not fill the gap left by Australia with chilled and boxed meat, they imported live animals from places like the Horn of Africa, where it is unlikely the animal welfare conditions can match those of Australia. With the Middle Eastern region forecast to import around 6.3 million head by 2026 they will look to markets such as Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia to fill any gap left by Australia.

We estimate that the loss of the live export trade will result in an immediate impact of between 30-40% to WA rural transporters’ bottom line.

Businesses that transport sheep, fodder, straw, hay will all be affected. This will result in staff being shed, equipment will not only be idle, but it will also lose its value.

Some businesses will become insolvent.

Local communities will be badly affected. Rural transporters are active supporters of local community groups and punch well above their weight in sponsoring sporting groups and other local activities such as shearing competitions. These sponsorship dollars will be under threat.

Shearers, tyre fitters, mechanics, machinery dealers, grocery stores will all feel the pinch if live sheep export becomes a thing of the past.

The suggestion that on-shore processing can fill the void left by live sheep exports ignores the practical reality of the lack of construction capacity in WA and the inability to staff existing abattoirs quite apart from market realities. Taxpayers’ money will no doubt be provided to processors to give the impression this is a viable strategy.

WA Premier, Mark McGowan and Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis have both said they believe the existing management measures for sheep export were appropriate. That seems to be as far they are prepared to go however, as there has been no evidence they have lobbied the Federal Government to change its mind. Instead they have run up the white flag and admitted defeat.

The broader transport industry should take note of the battle that is to be waged.

The transport industry will be front and centre of government policy to reduce emissions. You can be sure there will be claims about ‘social licence’ as part of the implementation of those policies.

As an industry we will do well to take heed about who determines whether an industry has ‘social licence’ or not, how it is measured, what value is placed on previous investments in reform and the extent to which government support can be taken at face value.

The LRTAWA does not accept or support closing a legitimate and lawful industry for short term political gain. Anything short of strong opposition to the Federal Government’s desire to shut down the live sheep export industry risks a contagion spreading to other commodities and other sectors of the transport industry on the basis of a questionable mandate and unsubstantiated community attitudes

DESIGN / PREPRESS

Cally Browning | Bare Creative

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From The Publisher

HAPPY Birthday MAX WINKLESS –95 years young.

Such sad news of Scott’s Refrigerated Logistics end and we have broken it down for you on Page 6. So many factors were out of their hands however their demise does bring to light lessons every transport business can take from. In this edition, the ban on live sheep exports from Australia by sea, which the Federal Government committed to ‘not’ phase out during this current term of Australian Parliament is now going through a planning and consulting stage. A must read on Page 2 on how this is being allowed to happen – especially with an exemplary animal welfare system resulting in only 0.21 per cent mortality figures on voyages.

Nuclear not Nucular… Just saying… we talk a bit about the subs for Western Australia. Thank you to Cliff Graham who has kindly agreed to become a columnist with - This is

‘The Outback’ Page 17.

Lots more in this edition including iNSTRUCKTA!’s first week in action. It is already proving to be a magnet for all ages who are given the opportunity through virtual reality to sit in the seat of a truck driver and see what they see – or don’t. It is also attracting present and future participants in our industry.

To the valued subscribers who receive the hard copy of the magazine each month, my apologies that it was a little late last month. Our printer who also posts the magazines was hit by COVID-19 plus Australia Post is also taking longer.

It was a shock to me when I found out it was late as it was the first time ever this had happened – the magazine is 29 years old this year.

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