A move to ban the live sheep trade has spilt of the ranks of regional federal Liberal MPs.
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Member for Corangamite Sarah Henderson backed a private members’ bill put to federal parliament on Monday calling for the trade to be phased out over five years while Member for Wannon Dan Tehan is supporting the trade.
Ms Henderson said there had been many instances of non-compliance with the rules governing the trade and many Australians were saying “enough is enough.”
“If any person in Australia crammed sheep into a transport vehicle for 25 days in the searing heat with limited access to food and water, standing in their own excrement, that person would be charged with animal cruelty.” Ms Henderson.
She said she had received a lot of support from her rural constituents for her stand.
“I reiterate that the interests of farmers and rural communities are paramount.
“The phase out should occur over a considerable period of time and ongoing consultations with farmers and others in the supply chain should continue.
“State and federal governments have an important role to play in further developing domestic processing to enable us to do more to meet the 100 export markets to which we already supply carcase, boxed and bagged sheep and lamb,” Ms Henderson said.
But speaking on ABC Radio on Monday, Member for Wannon Dan Tehan said he believed the live sheep export trade should be fixed rather closed down.
He hoped tighter regulation, lower stocking rates and severe consequences for those who breached the rules would enable the trade to thrive.
While the trade is prompting local debate, its importance to the south-west in recent years has dwindled from its heyday.
Only about 15,500 live sheep were exported through Portland in the 12 months to April with that figure not varying much from the previous year.
An Australian Livestock Exporters’ Council spokesman said most of the live animals currently exported out of Portland were cattle and most of the port infrastructure was set up for cattle.
About 90 per cent of Australia’s live sheep exports came out of Western Australia, the spokesman said.