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Footage allegedly showing Australian sheep being sold, handled, and slaughtered in violation of Australian regulations has raised new questions about the effectiveness of the government's live export assurance system.
Key points:
- The Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System requires exporters to ensure animals are handled, sold and slaughtered in approved facilities
- Evidence has been sent to the Department of Agriculture showing Australian sheep allegedly being sold outside of approved supply chains
- Agriculture Minister Murray Watt says an investigation is underway
Warning: This story contains graphic images.
Animals Australia lawyer Shatha Hamade captured the footage in May and June this year, while conducting undercover investigations in the Middle East.
Ms Hamade has been carrying out covert operations overseas for the last decade to document animal cruelty towards Australian livestock in importing countries.
She travelled to Oman in the lead up to and during Eid al-Adha or the Festival of Sacrifice, an annual event marked by the slaughter of livestock and the sharing of meat between family and friends.
Under the federal government's Exporter Supply Chain Assurance Scheme (ESCAS), exporters that ship Australian livestock to international markets are responsible for keeping the animals inside approved vehicles, feedlots and abattoirs.
According to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) website, the exporter must control all supply chain arrangements, including transport, handling and husbandry and slaughter.
Ms Hamade, who speaks fluent Arabic, told 7.30 she posed as a buyer at meat markets and livestock saleyards in Oman while wearing body cameras to test the strength of the Australian government's ESCAS regulations.
"While I was there [in May], I documented 14 locations illegally selling Australian sheep, and most of them were also offering on site slaughter of sheep on concrete slabs," Ms Hamade told 7.30.
"We immediately reported these regulation breaches to the Australian government. And in doing so, we provided comprehensive formal complaints, which included video and audio evidence and very specific GPS coordinate location information.
"We implored the federal government to take immediate action to direct the exporters responsible to go to Oman and retrieve the sheep and put them back in the approved supply chains."
She also sent the Department of Agriculture links to advertisements of Australian sheep listed as being for sale on an online marketplace called OpenSooq.
Ms Hamade has not provided the federal government with the evidence she captured during the Festival of Sacrifice, but has given the vision to 7.30.
The footage, captured across different sites in Oman, allegedly shows evidence of Australian sheep with their legs bound together, being dragged by the leg or head, and being slaughtered at unapproved locations.
"We provided the federal regulator with extensive formal complaints, and legal complaints, which basically documented GPS locations, very comprehensive audio and visual evidence, the on-selling that was happening, all of the URLs, the phone numbers, the videos that were being advertised," she told 7.30.
"The federal government had everything available to them to instruct and direct the exporters to go and secure the supply chains and get to the Australian sheep out of these illegal facilities, before the Festival of Sacrifice.
"We could not have possibly done anything more."
Animals Australia told 7.30 it would provide the footage it gathered during the Festival of Sacrifice to the department this week.
The department declined an interview with 7.30 but said in a statement that following the allegations raised by Animals Australia, it took regulatory action that required the relevant exporters to implement stronger control arrangements, extra surveillance, and additional reporting.
"The department's action helped mitigate any further potential non-compliance, and further regulatory actions may be imposed as the investigation proceeds," a spokesman said.
"No other Australian sheep have been exported to Oman since the alleged incidents.
"Live animal exporters must commit to arrangements with third parties in their supply chain to ensure compliance with Australia's ESCAS requirements.
"No regulatory system can ensure that there will never be an incidence of non-compliance. The benefit of ESCAS is that it allows for the identification of problems, and for them to be dealt with.
"Australia is the only country, out of over 100 livestock exporting nations, that requires specific animal welfare conditions for exported feeder and slaughter livestock once they arrive in the importing country."
Independent investigation in process
Agriculture Minister Murray Watt described the images presented to him by 7.30 as "very concerning" but said it would be inappropriate to draw conclusions whilst an investigation was still underway.
"The Department of Agriculture federally is the independent regulator of animal welfare," Mr Watt told 7.30.
"There is an investigation underway. I'm not intending to interfere with it, because it is an independent investigation.
"But it's important that we maintain confidence in the animal welfare standards that are followed, both within Australia and overseas."
All Australian sheep exported to Oman this year came from Western Australia, via two exporters: Livestock Shipping Services (LSS) and Kuwait Livestock Transport and Trading (KLTT), which trades as Rural Export and Trading WA (RETWA).
In the formal complaint filed by Ms Hamade and sighted by 7.30, she claimed that while posing as a buyer at an importer's feedlot associated with LSS, a staff member told her she could buy Australian sheep to take home for private slaughter.
Ms Hamade alleged that the seller told her he had already sold 40 for private sale.
LSS did not respond to 7.30's questions or requests for an interview.
"What is happening in these countries is that [sheep] are being illegally on sold into these [unapproved] livestock markets, livestock sellers and unapproved slaughterhouses with little or no infrastructure for slaughter," Ms Hamade told 7.30.
The Australian Livestock Exporters Council (ALEC) declined 7.30's request for an interview.
In a statement from August 8, the Council told 7.30 that it had previously issued statements related to the "allegations made by the activist group Animals Australia".
"The industry first informed the public about the allegations 11 weeks ago and our statements were covered by various media outlets at the time.
"We consider this investigation by DAFF entirely appropriate and support it completely as part of a strong regulatory system.
"We have been very clear in the meantime that we do not wish to prejudice that investigation by making further comment.
"ALEC and its members are unaware of any new allegations since advising the public of the situation 11 weeks ago. If any new allegations are made during this story, then Animals Australia should immediately refer them to DAFF for investigation."
RETWA director Murray Frangs told 7.30 he was "aware of the allegations made about Australian sheep identified outside registered supply chains and we will continue to work with DAFF as they conduct their investigations".
"RETWA have been supplying livestock into our Oman supply chain for decades and we have a well established and professional network of importers working with us in maintaining the required ESCAS protocols," he said.
"Our business experience recognises the necessity of supplying regular consignments in manageable numbers that are balanced with the capacity and capability of the destination supply chains and markets."
In March, Mr Watt announced the federal Labor government would phase out live sheep exports from Australia by sea, despite strong opposition from WA farmers and the export industry.
Federal Labor first made the commitment in 2018, after footage emerged of dead and dying sheep on board a ship bound for the Middle East.
An independent panel set up to advise the government and consult with stakeholders has received more than 4,100 submissions.
The panel must report its findings and recommendations to the minister by September 30.
Concerns over lack of policing around ESCAS compliance
Animals Australia also had investigators on the ground in Jordan during the Festival of Sacrifice.
Some of the footage gathered there was provided to the independent live sheep phase-out panel.
Ms Hamade said the footage, which she claimed was filmed at an ESCAS approved facility, was shown to the panel to prove that ESCAS compliance did not always ensure animal welfare.
"[The sheep] is coming through a chute, there's a stainless steel table there, they're holding him down, and they're cutting his throat," she said, describing the footage allegedly filmed at an ESCAS approved facility..
"That's it. That's ESCAS. That's an ESCAS approved facility.
"Animals from other countries are treated the same, they all come through these slaughterhouses.
"So, this argument about the net animal welfare loss [if Australia ends live sheep exports] is just rubbish."
Mr Watt said issues with the conditions on ships and the treatment of animals once they arrived in the importing countries were two separate issues.
"I don't necessarily see this as vindication of our position [on live exports by sea]," he said.
"I think it is another example that shows there are some issues when it comes to the export of live sheep."
He said ESCAS was a world-leading animal welfare system that was broadly complied with.
Federal opposition vows to continue live sheep exports if elected
Nationals leader David Littleproud was agriculture minister when the revelations about mass sheep deaths emerged, and introduced rules to improve animal welfare on board the ships.
Mr Littleproud said ESCAS compliance was a perennial issue, but that the system allowed for improvements to be made in importing countries.
Mr Littleproud said he was committed to continuing the live sheep export trade if the Coalition was elected.
"Most of the facilities that are approved [under ESCAS] adhere to the processes that we've asked to be put in place," he told 7.30.
"If we remove ourselves from these markets, we remove our opportunity to continue to influence and to maintain those standards in those countries.
"If we don't send our sheep there, if we don't have that influence, we actually will see [mistreatment of animals] become the norm.
"If we turn our back on them, they have no reason to change their ways."
But Ms Hamade said the argument didn't stack up, because the breaches were only being picked up by Animals Australia.
"An effective regulatory framework is only as good as it is policed and enforced," Ms Hamade told 7.30.
"ESCAS is not policed by the Australian government, and is largely unenforced, because everything is happening in country, which means that the Australian government actually doesn't have the powers to prevent the suffering and to police what's going on.
"If Australia is willing to continue participating in the live sheep trade, the question that needs to be asked is; Given what we now know about what's actually happening to the animals, can we in good conscience continue doing this?"
Impact on Western Australia
In its submission to the federal government's live sheep export phase-out panel, the WA government warned there was "a significant risk to Western Australia's farming systems ... particularly if the transition does not allow sufficient time or resources".
The submission stated that on modelling of only a 15 per cent drop in the size of the WA sheep flock could cost the agricultural industry up to $123 million annually and cut 387 jobs across the supply chain.
"Significant support, resources and a long transition period are required to ensure that the potential risks from the cessation of live export are minimised and that the WA farming systems remain diversified and sustainable" the report stated.
Mr Watt said the Western Australia government's submission also acknowledged that the cost to farmers and the cost of the WA economy could be significantly reduced if farmers adjusted and adapted by moving to different crops and products.
"So I don't think we need to accept that Western Australia experiences that kind of dollar impact because I think there are things that can be done to reduce that impact," he said.
"And that's what we want to do is work with the industry to bring this in in a sensitive manner."
In its statement to 7.30, ALEC said Animals Australia's footage was "designed to undermine the Export Supply Assurance System (ESCAS), not enhance it".
"This policy [to phase out live sheep exports] will cause irreparable damage to the businesses of Western Australian farmers and to Australia's longstanding friendship with our Middle Eastern trading partners," it stated.
"While no system is perfect, [ESCAS] has improved animal welfare in all our sheep, goat and cattle markets for over a decade, contributing to a net improvement in animal welfare globally."
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