Wilkie, Bandt bills to ban animal exports

Two crossbench MPs have introduced bills into the federal parliament that would ban all live animal exports from Australia.

Tasmanian independent Andrew Wilkie's bill would end the trade by mid-2014 while a separate bill, introduced into the lower house by Greens MP Adam Bandt, would ban all live animal exports immediately.

Independent senator Nick Xenophon also introduced a bill banning exports from mid-2014 into the upper house on Monday.

Mr Wilkie said it beggared belief that a succession of Australian governments had let the country down by failing to keep an eye on the live export trade.

He labelled the industry body Meat and Livestock Australia "an irresponsible, incompetent, dishonest and uncaring bunch of cowboys".

"The live animal export system is broken and beyond repair and the arguments against shutting it down are baseless," Mr Wilkie told parliament.

The Tasmanian MP said ending the trade would only have a "marginal effect" on the wider beef industry and the three-year phase out period would allow "more than enough time to move from live to processed meat".

Mr Bandt wants to prohibit all live exports "immediately".

"The only satisfactory government response to this abuse is the instant cessation of live animal exports for slaughter," the Melbourne MP told parliament.

"This abuse is not a new problem ... it's a systemic problem."

Neither bill is likely to pass the lower house as both the Gillard government and the opposition want the live export trade to continue.

A temporary ban on cattle shipments to Indonesia is in place for six months or until slaughter practices can be brought up to international standards.

Source: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8263426/wilkie-bandt-bills-to-ban-animal-exports

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