Live export: Bill to ban sheep shipping trade passes through Lower House

Labor’s contentious Export Control Amendment Bill — which if legislated, will ban all live sheep exports by sea from Australia by mid-2028 — has passed through the House of Representatives.

Labor will now put the Bill to the Senate, and with the Coalition opposing the ban, the policy will need the support of the crossbench and Greens if it is to become law.

Federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said the Bill’s passing will “provide certainty to all stakeholders” and allow the rollout of transition programs to be funded by the Albanese Government’s $107 million support package.

“Our transition plan strikes a balance between improving sheep welfare and providing time for a sustainable pathway for sheep farmers, the supply chain participants and communities in Western Australia, and for our trading partners to adjust,” he said.

Mr Watt’s office said more information on the transition funding will be made available in the third quarter of 2024.

This was despite a report by a Labor-appointed consultation panel recommending support should be introduced for the WA sheep industry by the first half of the year.

Nationals leader David Littleproud slammed the Bill as “senseless” and said Labor had “turned its back” on its original members.

“The founding members of the Labor Party, who were in fact shearers, would be turning in their graves if they knew the way Labor has betrayed them today,” he said.

“It is not just a sad day for the Australian Labor Party but for farmers across Australia.”

Mr Littleproud reaffirmed the coalition’s pledge to reverse the ban if elected in the next federal election.

The Bill passed the Lower House 89 votes to 54 on Wednesday.

Australian Livestock Exporters’ Council CEO Mark Harvey-Sutton called its passage “political bastardy” and a “slap in the face” to Australian farmers.

“This is an outrage, which hasn’t been seen by Australian agriculture in decades and industry will continue to fight the ban,” he said.

“We are appalled at the haste this Bill, which has been shoved through the House of Representatives.”

Mr Harvey-Sutton renewed the demand for a Senate inquiry into the Bill, a probe that groups including the Pastoralists and Graziers Association of WA and WAFarmers have also called for.

It comes after the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Agriculture carried out a hastily convened inquiry and handed down its report on Friday after receiving thousands of submissions.

“We would welcome a Senate inquiry to examine this entirely unfair nature of the Bill, which has no scientific basis at all,” Mr Harvey-Sutton said.

“Many of the 10,000 submissions were dismissed out of hand and went unread and unanswered. How can the Government say it has adequately considered the damage this Bill will do?”

The Lower House committee’s report recommended the Bill be passed, sparking outrage.

Labor member for O’Connor Rick Wilson called the inquiry a “sham” and said a full Senate probe was an “absolute must.”

“We’re talking about the end of an important, largely Western Australian, industry here and such radical government intervention in the free market should not be taken as lightly or disrespectfully as Mr Watt has taken it,” he said.

“A Senate inquiry that examines Mr Watt’s exports banning Bill from its preamble right down to the minutiae of each and every subclause is the very least that WA’s Labor senators can do to ensure their proposed exports prohibition at least passes legal muster.”

Senator Watt initially promised to hold a Senate inquiry after questioning from Liberal Senator for WA Slade Brockman during a May 30 Senate Estimates hearing.

But just a few days later Senator Watt assigned the job to the Lower House committee chaired by Labor MP Meryl Swanson.

In response to questions, a spokesman for the minister said: “Whether a Senate inquiry is held on any piece of legislation is a matter for the Senate.”