Live Exports

They say that sheep aren’t very bright. Some of their supporters aren’t that sharp either.

They don’t seem to get politics. They don’t get that the only logical result of their campaign to unseat this apparently heartless Federal Government would be the installation of another Federal Government which cares even less about how animals are treated once they are exported overseas. I can understand people being angry, but the loss of perspective and absence of thought on this issue is quite remarkable.

Talkback and the letters pages are jammed, and Government MPs are being bombarded by thousands of emails and form letters denouncing them as callous and complicit through their negligence in the brutal slaughter of several thousand sheep in Pakistan. Just 18 months after footage emerged showing Australian cattle being hacked to death in Indonesia, the call to end live exports is louder than it was last year. It was pretty loud the first time around. Much of it is understandable but a lot of it is just ludicrously over the top.

Continue reading "Shattered nation rallies behind a bunch of sheep" »

Australia is a proud and beautiful country. The people are warm, progressive, well-educated and known across the globe for their outstanding hospitality. It is no wonder that Australia ranks No 2 on the global human development index.

This is why the world watched in shock last year when we became aware of the horrific circumstances that Australia’s live export industry was willing to supply animals to Indonesia.

While Animals Australia’s investigation and the subsequent award-winning ABC Four Corners program generated outrage across Australia, the images of Australian cattle being eye-gouged, kicked, whipped and tortured created a similar outpouring of rage across the globe. The vision that we had of Australia as an ethical and forward-thinking nation changed in that moment.

Continue reading "Aussie shame on animal cruelty cruels world efforts" »

It’s hard to know what the live animal export industry is more concerned about.

The fact that Australian animals are being tortured in Indonesia, or the fact that Australians now know that Australian animals are being tortured in Indonesia.

I have long been opposed to the live animal export industry.

Continue reading "Spend on job creation, not overseas cruelty" »

This story was written before I had seen the Four Corners special ‘A bloody business’. I had the intention of opening with a description of some of the footage shown in that program. Footage showing scenes of horrific cruelty in Indonesian slaughter houses. But I can’t do that. It was simply too horrible.

Stories from Indonesia - Live Export Investigation from Animals Australia on Vimeo.

All I could think of was my student days studying the history of Germany during the 1930s and the rise of Nazism. The acquiescence that allowed the Holocaust to happen was on display during interviews with Australian cattle producers who were appalled by the slaughter conditions while perfectly happy to bank the money. These human scum, and in particular Meat and Livestock Corporation CEO Cameron Hall, rank among the worst excuses for human beings on the planet.

Rest assured, the remainder of this story will perhaps shock but there will be no graphic descriptions of cruelty.

Continue reading "Slaughterhouse live: Our bloody cattle exports" »