If you were sickened by the footage of abused and dying sheep on a live export vessel on 60 Minutes last night, rest assured that virtually nothing will be done to stop it. The company responsible has been getting away with it for years, and the department allegedly responsible for regulating it has done little.
Emanuel Exports is the company responsible for the vessel in the footage, the same vessel being held in Fremantle awaiting clearance for another live export trip. Emanuel has been responsible for the heat-related deaths of many thousands of live export sheep in 2016 and 2017. The live export trade has long known of the impact of heat stress on live export animals sent to the Middle East. In the dry words of a 2004 report:
animals travelling to the Middle East during the northern summer (May to October) experienced conditions over 30 °C wet bulb, often for sustained periods of several days, with nil or little diurnal respite. The air entering the decks can be hot and humid, and it can become worse with the addition of heat from the animals, so that animals further from the entry points can be subject to extreme heat and humidity… the animals … have little opportunity to escape the conditions. Depending on the stocking density, there may be limited scope for behavioural modifications to decrease heat gain or improve heat loss.
Emanuel Exports would know all about that, as would the Department of Agriculture, because for many years the company has routinely lost huge numbers of animals on its live export voyages to the Middle East. The six-monthly “Report to Parliament on Live-stock Mortalities During Exports by Sea” by Agriculture — assuming you can get the Department’s execrable website to download the reports — details the losses, year-in, year-out. July 2011, over 1000 lost on a 27-day voyage. 1200 lost in two voyages in November 2011. In April 2014, 440 on one voyage; 1700 in one voyage in July 2016. Agriculture says a 2% loss rate is acceptable for the live export of sheep, but Emanuel on some voyages can’t even meet that pathetic standard.
The live export industry and the government claim that animals are protected from distress via a Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System, implemented after the 4 Corners live export story in 2011. That “requires exporters’ to have commercial arrangements with supply chain partners (i.e. importers, feedlots, abattoirs) in importing countries to provide humane treatment and handling of livestock.” Exporters complain that the ESCAS system is a costly burden and want it removed. Agriculture has found, time and again, “major” violations of ESCAS by Emanuel involving sheep it has transported ending up in market places across the Middle East rather than being slaughtered in accredited facilities, including a “critical” violation by Emanuel in late 2015.
These are only official findings. A 2015 senate committee inquiry heard more serious allegations against Emanuel:
“Another example comes from Dr Tony Hill, as veterinarian on board the Emanuel Exports. He was required to falsify his mortality figures on the Al Khaleej. Up to 2,000 sheep died on the voyage but only 105 deaths were reported. He reported this matter to LiveCorp but it went no further and the director of Emanuel Exports was on the board of directors for LiveCorp.”
What action is taken by Agriculture beyond “investigating” and declaring Emanuel in breach of ESCAS? It certainly hasn’t prevented the department from continuing to licence the company for live exports — even when other companies in the trade complain about it. Indeed, as far as the government is concerned, Emanuel is a “success story” — a 2015 Austrade presentation lauds Emanuel for its “right mix of political and commercial connectivity, local representation & appropriate resources.” The company, by the way, is a Liberal Party donor in Western Australia.
This is consistent with Agriculture’s entire approach to animal welfare. As Crikey reported in December, the animal welfare standard-setting process in Australia has been corrupted by industry interests and Commonwealth leadership has been abandoned. That’s why, for all that the current Agriculture Minister, Nationals junior David Littleproud, might confect fury at the footage, there is no realistic prospect that the system will deliver an end to the disgusting treatment of live export animals.
No, I wouldn’t watch 60 minutes in a pink fit.
Yes, while it seems strange to be concerned about animal welfare for a voyage to the slaughterhouse, it is still cruelty, and in that moral sense an outrage on industrial scale.
But the money continues to talk, and the Nationals will continue to make life easy for exporters so the farmers get their money. Of course, if the farmers are up against coal miners, they’re on their own.
What a twisted world.
Good morning DB!
This story has a long history in which the Nats and libs loom large.
Up until the Seventies the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (different name then) was a force to be reckoned with, and feared throughout the shipping world. Substandard ships and crews would not come near Australia.
This irked the hell out of the farmers as they couldn’t get cheap floating scrapheaps to carry their cargoes to market. The FFA pressured the Govt and then A.M.S.A. had its teeth pulled. Now any barely floating wreck could come to Australia and load and even carry cargoes on coastal voyages.”Self regulation” became the mantra and do what you like became the rule. Every so often some disaster would take place and AMSA and the Govt. would do some huffing and puffing until the media lost interest when all would go back to normal. Or if, like the Lab Govt, actually do something to improve the situation, vested interests arc up and with assistance from compliant media and Opposition Govt . force the Govt into a backdown. All goes back to normal and to hell with the livestock there’s money to be made here and political donations to be received.
Now take the position of the onboard Vet. If he is Australian then he is probably the only one who is not Pakistani or Syrian. He will be ostracised, fed badly and probably threatened physically on occasion. Especially if he takes his job too seriously. More likely a 457 Visa holder with a photocopy of someone’s forged certificate will get the job. And earn a lot of supplementary money into the bargain. Everybody happy again apart from a few bleeding hearts who actually care about animals. But they’re powerless anyway.
Cheers 124c4u. Yes, I do remember the days, and I think a certain amount of the credit for that came back to the Maritime unions, which used to hold sway about everything that happened on the waters around Australia. They had some power.
They were also mostly egregious thugs, but good things did come out of that power in the form of shipping standards, and paying fair wages to work in Oz waters.
Hi again DB!
I have to clear up something about the “egregious thugs” in the maritime Unions.
At one time the tail was wagging the dog and the Seaman’s Union of Australia ran the show. And you are right there were some very rough customers among them. The two unions for Engineer and Navigation Officers were very different and their members were very wimpy. Basically they rode on the coattails of the SUA. They also copped a lot of trouble with the SUA members being at the battlefront, so to speak.
It got sorted out reasonably well for a while and the place became almost civilised. Then Little Johnny H came along changed the rules deregulated the control mechanism and now its back to the beginning again. But now there are almost no Aussie ships anymore.
If only Australian National Line still survived.
When Whyalla shipyards built freighters, colliers, bulk carriers with Australian raw materials and skills.
Another French corporate death kiss.
Then there was Adelaide Steamship Company before it flew away as ANA.
I too call BS on The Hon David Littleproud’s rant.
As you say BK, nothing will change, too much at stake.
Last week their was a story about day old chicks being buried alive by council staff after a truck carrying them crashed.
Trucks carrying livestock around the country often crash with horrible results for the animals, hardly rates a mention.
Congratulations on this most helpful article on live exports. The horror has been ongoing. Like the cricketers, there is an outcry when they are caught for bad behaviour, but unlike the cricketers, there are no penalties. The exporters just keep “playing the game” while the animals suffer in hell.
I feel for that Pakistani whistle-blower featured on Sixty Minutes last night. He naively thinks the Australian government would want to stop this shocking animal cruelty. Sadly, our politicians are only concerned about votes and dollars, not ethics, empathy or compassion.
Therein lies the problem Marie, these assumptions are naively made with the best of intentions. This is why those of us who don’t eat meat, often wonder when they will stop this type of slaughter, I suppose when there’s no money in it. (I don’t eat meat because of the health problems it causes me, not due to ethical reasons). I think that it’s time we start to realise that these sentient animals are just as capable of experiencing pain & hurt as we humans are… there needs to be a better way if this is what the current order is…
Yet again I ask why the animals must be a live product?
Surely there is a Middle-Eastern market for prime Oz lamb killed here under certified Halal conditions & exported as packaged. This would be an industry guaranteed to provide significantly more jobs than merely a few handlers herding sheep onto a cargo boat for a cruise to hell. Farmers would continue to sell their livestock. Win win.
That thought also crossed my mind, Zut. Then again, it is a perfectly logical solution…NOT likely to get much attention from our current government.
They don’t do logical!!
I thought the live sheep were part of the Haj.
Don’t pilgrims have to sacrifice a live sheep as part of the pilgrimage?
Killing animals & killing domestic job opportunities. Talk about a double whammy.