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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 331 asked in the Legislative Council on 7 April 2022 by Hon Dr Brian Walker

Parliament: 41 Session: 1

LIVE EXPORT

331. Hon Dr BRIAN WALKER to the Minister for Agriculture and Food:

I refer the minister to a media release issued by the RSPCA yesterday, Wednesday, 6 April 2022, expressing its grave concerns about the federal government's decision, announced earlier this week, to slash the prohibited northern summer period for live sheep export, which will see, in the words of the release, thousands more sheep placed at unacceptable risk of heat stress on long voyages to the Middle East from as early as this May.

(1) Did any consultation occur between the federal government and the WA state government on the reduction of the prohibition period prior to the announcement being made?

(2) Does the McGowan government share the concerns of the RSPCA that established animal welfare science is being ignored and the basic welfare of animals degraded on the eve of a federal election, when members in Canberra will have little or no opportunity to scrutinise these last-minute changes?

Hon ALANNAH MacTIERNAN replied:

I thank the member for the question.

(1)–(2) This is an issue of concern. I think it is important to understand that it is really around the margins; it is not a massive change that is proposed. Nevertheless, I think it is a backwards step. We introduced the moratorium after a series of horrific incidents right up until 2018. Since the introduction of this moratorium, plus, in the post–Barnaby Joyce era, the re-establishment of some animal welfare infrastructure at a federal level, we have not had a single mortality incident that has attracted attention. This moratorium has worked. It has worked to reduce the risk of severe incidents to these animals. From the agriculture sector's point of view, it has reduced the reputational issues that were impacting on Western Australian agriculture from the international coverage that was given to these episodes.

Certainly, our department made submissions to the commonwealth earlier this year, and no-one expected a result to come out so quickly, because the review is not actually due to be completed for a number of months. The department certainly expressed concerns about the proposed changes. It does not agree that the Kuwait port microclimate provides safeguards to sheep transported through the Straits of Hormuz and offloaded in Kuwait. The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development considers the sheep risk suffering heat stress, and offloading at Kuwait does not mitigate heat stress. In respect of the reduction of the length of the moratorium by two weeks, going into vessels that travel through the Red Sea, the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development does not agree with it. The data provided by the federal department is insufficient to provide confidence that the risk of heat stress is being sufficiently mitigated. From an animal welfare point of view and from the point of view of the reputational issues for our sheep industry, this is not good. Our sheep industry is doing really well. Since this moratorium was introduced, prices for our sheep and sheep meat have steadily increased and I am very concerned that this measure will now put into the mix all of this controversy around this industry.

The PRESIDENT: I again remind members of standing order 105 in relation to the concise nature of questions, and standing order 106 in relation to the concise nature of responses.