By 16 January 2014
The Department of Agriculture has released six compliance investigation reports concerning the handling and welfare of Australian livestock exported to overseas markets.
The reports concern allegations of mistreatment, improper handling and unauthorised movement of animals in importing countries in the Middle East, Asia and Africa.
The Department has determined in some instances handling and slaughter was not consistent with World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) standards or animals left approved facilities demonstrating that an exporter's Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System (ESCAS) arrangements were inadequate.
The Department has placed additional conditions on future consignments of affected exporters, including:
- restrictions on the use of specific supply chains to reduce opportunities for livestock to exit approved facilities
- increased supervision of movement of livestock through the supply chain to ensure handling standards are met
- increased reporting and monitoring obligations to enable for more regular stocktaking of livestock in approved supply chains
- additional security at feedlots and abattoirs to minimise the risk of theft of livestock.
The additional conditions are intended to promote compliance with the approved ESCAS.
Exporters have also implemented their own measures, including further training to improve animal handling when animals are being unloaded.
The Department investigates all complaints to ensure that animal welfare outcomes are consistent with international standards and ESCAS guidelines.
A strong livestock export industry is a significant contributor to the Australian economy and supports our regional communities. The Department will continue to work with the industry, and the public, and importing countries to ensure the trade continues and animal welfare standards are met.
The investigation reports are available on the Department's website.
Department of Agriculture Deputy Secretary Phillip Glyde audio
16 January 2013
What has the Department released today?The Department of Agriculture has released six compliance investigation reports about the handing of Australian animals overseas.
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Answer One MP3 (00:08) - 197 KB
The investigations found a range of weaknesses in the system, from animals being outside of the supply chain, through to animal welfare practises and handling that were not consistent with international animal welfare standards.
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Answer Two MP3 (00:17) - 413 KB
The Department has placed additional conditions on the future consignments of the affected exporters. There's a range of these across the reports but [they include] restrictions on the number of supply chains that can be used, increased supervision of the movement of livestock through those supply chains, increased reporting and monitoring of the progress of the supply chains, additional security at feedlots and abattoirs to minimise the risk of theft of livestock.
And, the exporters have taken their own actions, such as further training to improve the animal handling at ports and during transport at the destination countries.
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Answer Three MP3 (00:37) - 886 KB
The system is designed to make sure we have continuous improvement in animal welfare outcomes for Australian animals. We're only one of a hundred countries that export animals, but we're the only one that has these animal welfare requirements.
And so, regrettable as these incidents are, they enable us to continuously improve the system. When we see a problem, we're in a position to direct exporters to fix those problems.
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Answer Four MP3 (00:21) - 518 KB
Today we also released three mortality investigation reports. This is part of the Department's regular reporting of mortality incidents on voyages overseas for Australian animals. We've been doing this for some time and indeed we report to Parliament twice a year on these events.
One of those three reports concerned a particularly tragic event where around 4000 animals died during an extremely hot period of weather on a particular day during the voyage.
As a result of that experience, the Department required additional conditions for the exporter's next consignment. This meant all of the sheep had an additional 10 per cent space and that voyage was completed without incident.
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