tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/live-animal-exports-4199/articleslive animal exports – The Conversation2023-07-05T05:13:28Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2058312023-07-05T05:13:28Z2023-07-05T05:13:28ZWhy Australia banning live sheep exports may be a net loss for animal welfare<p>Australia’s government wants to end live sheep exports. A panel of four experts has been appointed and given a $5.6 million budget to come up with a plan to phase out the trade, worth $92 million a year. </p>
<p>Chaired by the former head of the Murray Darling Basin Authority, Phillip Glyde, the panel is expected to report by the end of September. What it proposes remains to be seen. The only thing that’s certain is that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has promised the ban won’t happen in his first term, and that a lot more funding will be needed if no one involved in the trade is to be left worse off. </p>
<p>The thornier question is whether the ban – something animal welfare activists have campaigned for decades – will be a net gain for global animal welfare. It’s likely to mean more animals being shipped from nations with lower standards.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/veganism-why-we-should-see-it-as-a-political-movement-rather-than-a-dietary-choice-197318">Veganism: why we should see it as a political movement rather than a dietary choice</a>
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<h2>Scandals, bans and reforms</h2>
<p>Australia is the world’s seventh-biggest exporter of live animals by value. In 2022 it accounted for about 4.7% of the global trade, mostly shipping cattle to Asia and <a href="https://oec.world/en/profile/hs/sheep-live#:%7E:text=Overview%20This%20page%20contains%20the,0.0077%25%20of%20total%20world%20trade">sheep</a> to the Middle East. These markets either lack reliable refrigeration and cold-chain facilities for processed meat or <a href="https://www.agriculture.gov.au/agriculture-land/animal/welfare/export-trade">have a cultural preference</a> for freshly slaughtered meat adhering to specific practices, like halal.</p>
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<p>Currently there is a ban on sheep being shipped to the <a href="https://oia.pmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/posts/2020/04/final_ris_-_live_sheep_exports_to_the_middle_east_-_northern_hemisphere.docx">northern hemisphere in summer</a>, after 2,400 sheep died on a journey to the Middle East in 2017. There have also been temporary suspensions to individual countries over the past two decades. </p>
<p>Exports to Indonesia were suspended for six weeks in 2012, following an <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-08-08/a-bloody-business---2011/2841918">ABC Four Corners expose</a> of cruelty to cattle in abattoirs. </p>
<p>Trade to Egypt was suspended in 2013 and 2006, again over cruelty to cattle in abattoirs. Shipments to Saudi Arabia were suspended between 2003 and 2005, after <a href="https://lawaspect.com/background-to-the-cormo-express-incident/">58,000 sheep were stranded at sea for three months</a> after Saudi authorities refused to let them disembark due to an outbreak of the viral disease <a href="https://farmerhealth.org.au/2014/03/21/scabby-mouth-orf">scabby mouth</a>.</p>
<p>These scandals, however, have led to significant reforms in the industry, with the federal government imposing stringent obligations on exporters for trade to resume. </p>
<p>As a result, Australia can boast that it <a href="https://www.agriculture.gov.au/agriculture-land/animal/welfare/export-trade">leads the world</a> in animal welfare practices. </p>
<p>It is only country that requires exporters to safeguard the welfare of animals from the paddock to the point of slaughter in abattoirs in other countries. This is a rare example of the principle of extended producer responsibility being practised. The World Organisation for Animal Health recommends this but does not require it. </p>
<h2>Regulating treatment in importing nations</h2>
<p>Two sets of Australian regulations oversee the treatment of animals being shipped for slaughter overseas. From the farmgate to the ship is covered by the <a href="https://www.agriculture.gov.au/biosecurity-trade/export/controlled-goods/live-animals/livestock/australian-standards-livestock">Australian Standards for the Export of Livestock</a>. These were introduced in 2021.</p>
<p>Treatment in importing countries is covered by the <a href="https://www.agriculture.gov.au/biosecurity-trade/export/controlled-goods/live-animals/livestock/exporters/escas">Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System</a> (ESCAS). These rules were instituted in 2011, following the expose of mistreatment in Indonesian abattoirs. </p>
<p>They require exporters to ensure all handlers and facilities (ports, transport vehicle, feedlots and abbatoirs) in importing countries to comply with both local and Australian welfare guidelines.</p>
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<img alt="Sheep aboard the live export ship Al Messilah before it leaves Fremantle for the Middle East, April 6 2023." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535703/original/file-20230705-27-2e46zt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535703/original/file-20230705-27-2e46zt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535703/original/file-20230705-27-2e46zt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535703/original/file-20230705-27-2e46zt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535703/original/file-20230705-27-2e46zt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535703/original/file-20230705-27-2e46zt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535703/original/file-20230705-27-2e46zt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Sheep aboard the live export ship Al Messilah before it leaves Fremantle for the Middle East, April 6 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Elizabeth Jackson</span></span>
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<p>To gain an export licence from the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, exporters must demonstrate they have control over <a href="https://www.iglae.gov.au/sites/default/files/2022-11/escas-report-22.pdf">every link in the supply chain</a> from when animals leave the ship to the point at which they are slaughtered. </p>
<p>Animals must be inspected before, during and after their journey by accredited animal health professionals. Facilities and animal-handling techniques <a href="https://www.agriculture.gov.au/biosecurity-trade/export/controlled-goods/live-animals/livestock/exporters/escas#independent-auditing">are audited</a> at least once a year. Auditors are appointed by the exporter but have to be independent, have no conflict of interest and be appropriately qualified.</p>
<h2>Imperfect but ‘unique and innovative’</h2>
<p>The system is not perfect. A <a href="https://www.iglae.gov.au/sites/default/files/2022-11/escas-report-22.pdf">2021 review</a> of ESCAS by the federal Inspector-General of Live Animal Exports identified a number of regulatory gaps and ways to make the system more efficient. In particular it noted that loss of control and traceability, sometimes with poor animal welfare outcomes, still occurs at low but chronic levels.</p>
<p>Nonetheless it still described the system as “a unique and innovative regulatory practice solution” that had largely achieved its broad objectives, and made eight recommendations to fix problems (the department agreed to four of these, and “agreed in principle” to the other four.)</p>
<h2>Reporting non-compliance</h2>
<p>One measure of how well the system is working is the number of reports of Australian livestock being mistreated or being in non-accredited facilities.
Anyone can make these reports, which <a href="https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20211213143841/https:/www.awe.gov.au/biosecurity-trade/export/controlled-goods/live-animals/livestock/regulatory-framework/compliance-investigations/investigations-regulatory-compliance">are publicly available</a>, along with the investigations arising.</p>
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<p>For example, in 2021 the animal rights group Animals Australia reported non-compliant slaughter of sheep in Jordan. The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry <a href="https://www.agriculture.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/escas-regulatory-performance-report-jul-21-jun-2022.pdf">agreed</a>, and that the control arrangements of the exporter, Livestock Shipping Services, had failed. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-high-court-decision-on-filming-animals-in-farms-and-abattoirs-really-means-177146">What the High Court decision on filming animals in farms and abattoirs really means</a>
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<p>The federal minister for Agriculture, Murray Watt, described the live export industry in June 2020 (when he was shadow minister for Northern Australia) as “<a href="https://www.openaustralia.org.au/senate/?id=2020-06-12.91.1">a world leader with regard to animal welfare</a>”.</p>
<p>Nothing has changed since.</p>
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<p><em>Correction: this article originally stated the Australian government wants to ban live animal exports. The proposed ban is for live sheep exports. The article has been amended accordingly.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205831/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Jackson is a member-elected non-executive director of Sheep Producers Australia and is on the WAFarmers' Livestock Council but does not derive any income from the agricultural industry. She currently receives research funding from the Food Agility CRC and the Fight Food Waste CRC. </span></em></p>Australia can boast that it leads the world in animal welfare practices. A ban on live exports will more animals being shipped from nations with lower standards.Elizabeth (Liz) Jackson, Associate Professor of Supply Chain Management & Logistics, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/715712017-02-07T07:29:42Z2017-02-07T07:29:42ZTrading in extinction: how the pet trade is killing off many animal species<p>Global biodiversity loss doesn’t just result from the <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378112715003400">destruction of habitats</a>, or even <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cobi.12785/abstract">hunting species for meat</a>. A <a href="http://www.traffic.org/trade/">huge number of species are threatened by trade</a> – both alive as pets or exhibits, or dead for use in medicines. </p>
<p>Though people have become increasingly aware of the threat posed by the trade of high-value species, such as the elephant for ivory, and various animals such as tigers, rhinos and the pangolin for medicine, few realise the risk that the pet trade poses to the future survival of many less well-known species.</p>
<p>On visiting a zoo or pet shop, you may expect that the reptiles and amphibians on show are bred in captivity, but many of these animals may have been imported live. In fact, 92% of the <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/324/5927/594">500,000 live animal shipments between 2000-2006 to the United States</a> (that’s 1,480,000,000 animals) were for the pet trade, and 69% of these <a href="https://comtrade.un.org/data/">originated in Southeast Asia</a>. </p>
<p>These exports are <a href="https://comtrade.un.org/data/">increasing annually from the majority</a> of tropical countries. And without careful regulation, this trade may be disastrous for many species.</p>
<h2>Legal trade?</h2>
<p>Many zoos, aquaria and pet stockists formerly relied on “certified breeders” in many parts of the world (especially <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cobi.12240/full">Southeast Asia and South America</a>) to provide stock for pets and exhibitions. But it’s now well established that <a href="http://www.wwf.de/fileadmin/fm-wwf/Publikationen-PDF/Captive-bred_or_wild-taken.pdf">only a small proportion of these animals are, in fact, captive bred</a>. The vast majority may be <a href="https://sapiens.revues.org/1327">harvested from the wild</a> and <a href="http://www.trafficj.org/publication/07_opportunity_or_threat.pdf">laundered to appear legal</a>. </p>
<p>One such case is the common Tokay Gecko (<em>Gecko gecko</em>), of which Indonesia can legally export three million live annually (<a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/01/160106-tokay-geckos-indonesia-traditional-medicines-wildlife-trade-traffic/">as designated by CITES which determines legal exports quotas of all internationally traded species</a>), in addition to a <a href="http://www.traffic.org/home/2011/11/16/tokay-gecko-trade-boom-in-south-east-asia.html">further 1.2 million</a> dried for its <a href="http://thediplomat.com/2014/04/hunting-the-tokay-gecko/">mythical medical properties</a>. </p>
<p>But breeding <a href="http://www.traffic.org/home/2015/11/6/tokay-gecko-captive-breeding-doesnt-add-up.html">three million</a> of these animals would require at least 420,000 females and 42,000 males; 90,000 incubation containers and 336,000 rearing cages; plus food and hundreds of staff. All that outlay would need to be recovered at the cost of under $US1.90 per gecko, and that’s before considering death rates and the <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/01/160106-tokay-geckos-indonesia-traditional-medicines-wildlife-trade-traffic/">1.2 million that are sold dried</a>. As a result, the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/laurel-neme/how-captive-breeding-of_b_8942030.html">majority of these geckos are caught</a> in the wild. </p>
<p>The same is true for an estimated <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320711003685">160 reptile species</a>. Around 80% of Indonesia’s green pythons (<em>Morelia viridis</em>) (more than <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320711003685">5,337 annually</a>) are estimated to be exported illegally, and almost the entire population of the <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/onearth/poachers-international-loophole-captive-breeding">Palawan forest turtle was captured by a single group</a> to export across the region. </p>
<p>Due to collector demand for new and rare species, entire populations can be collected using academic publications to target animals as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jan/01/poachers-using-science-papers-to-target-newly-discovered-species">soon as they are scientifically described</a>. At least <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320716301987">21 reptile species have been targeted this way</a> and wild populations may become extinct soon after their discovery as a result. Academics have begun leaving precise locations of new species out of their publications to try prevent this. </p>
<p>Collector demand has driven a number of species to extinction in the wild, including the Chinese Tiger gecko <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/18917684/0"><em>Goniuorosaurus luii</em>)</a> and many other geckos known only to collectors and scientists. Yet these extinct in the wild, critically endangered and unclassified species are easily available from <a href="http://www.ridgeandvalleyreptiles.com/goniurosaurus-luii.html">unscrupulous traders</a> in America and Europe, via the <a href="http://www.ridgeandvalleyreptiles.com/goniurosaurus-luii.html">internet</a> or <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/nov/11/lizard-traffickers-exploit-legal-loopholes-to-trade-at-worlds-biggest-fair">reptile fairs</a>.</p>
<p>These threats are a particular risk to any newly described reptile species, particularly the reptiles of Asia <a href="http://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/native-animals/reptiles-and-frogs/lizards/geckos/">as well</a> as <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/newzealand/7080799/Reptile-collector-who-smuggled-geckos-in-his-underwear-jailed-in-New-Zealand.html">New Zealand</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160712115524.htm">Madagascar</a>. </p>
<p>For the majority of these species, legal trade has never been permitted internationally; all available animals come from illegal stock, and may represent the global population of some of these species. </p>
<p>An estimated <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320714004984">50% of live reptile exports</a> are thought to be caught in the wild despite the fact <a href="http://ac.els-cdn.com/S0006320716301987/1-s2.0-S0006320716301987-main.pdf?_tid=c6ae70b8-db48-11e6-97f9-00000aab0f6c&acdnat=1484501809_9877604697e7c193fbf561155ef79124">under half of the 10,272 currently described</a> reptile species have had their conservation status assessed. Under 8% have their trade levels controlled so developing appropriate priorities, quotas or management guidelines is almost impossible.</p>
<p>But this exploitation is not limited to reptiles and amphibians alone. Any species can fall prey to collectors, <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2015/12/200000-of-perus-primates-trafficked-for-pet-trade-or-bushmeat-yearly/">with primates</a>, and orchid and bird species often suffering the same fate. More than <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10531-016-1193-8">212 over-exploited amphibian species have been classified so far</a>, with at least 290 species targeted for the international pet trade. </p>
<p>Surveys in Thailand revealed <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000632071500141X">more than 347 orchid species</a> available in a single market. They come from across the region and include many undescribed species, as well as those illegally transported into Thailand. </p>
<p>These species suffer the same fate as reptiles, with <a href="https://www.facebook.com/MistyValleyOrchids/app/190322544333196/">new discoveries often being exploited by the market</a>, sometimes encouraged by <a href="http://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/article/view/2826/3819">researchers</a>. They’re <a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rare-Newly-Orchid-Plant-Paphiopedilum-Rungsuriyanum-Species-/391135217817">easily available over the internet</a>, resulting in the <a href="http://www.rufford.org/files/www.slipperorchid.org__0.pdf">extinction of these species based to trade alone</a> and the <a href="http://www.slippertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=40866">refusal to accept the threat of trade</a>.</p>
<p>Many <a href="http://orientalbirdclub.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Trade-driven-extinctions.pdf">bird species</a> are also under severe extinction threat because of the pet trade. They include thousands of birds in South America, and an estimated <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320712001152">3.33 million annually from Southeast Asia</a> (1.3 million from Indonesia alone). </p>
<p>The pressure on Indonesian birds is so severe that in just one day in a single market over <a href="http://www.traffic.org/publications/in-the-market-for-extinction-an-inventory-of-jakartas-bird-m.html">16,160 birds of around 206 species were reported to be for sale</a>, of which 98% were native to Indonesia, and 20% occurred nowhere else in the world.</p>
<p>Fish have similar statistics. Up to <a href="http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2523460/the_dark_side_of_hawaiis_aquarium_trade.html">98% of those in aquaria are wild caught from reefs</a> and suffer <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2013/10/98-of-marine-fish-headed-for-the-aquarium-trade-die-within-a-year-in-the-philippines/">death rates of 98% within a year</a>. As a result, wild fish populations of species, such as the clownfish, have decreased by up to 75%.</p>
<h2>Whose responsibility?</h2>
<p>The illegal wildlife trade is the <a href="http://globalriskinsights.com/2017/01/illicit-wildlife-trafficking-political-crisis/">fourth largest illegal trade globally</a>, worth about <a href="http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/species/problems/illegal_trade/wildlife_trade_campaign/wildlife_trafficking_report/">$US20 billion annually</a>. About <a href="http://www.eastbysoutheast.com/southeast-asias-illicit-wildlife-trade-international-cooperation-necessary-to-find-solution/">half comes from Southeast Asia</a>. </p>
<p>But unlike other illicit trade, much of the <a href="http://motherboard.vice.com/read/why-arent-illegal-wildlife-traders-using-the-dark-web">illegal wildlife trade is not buried in the “dark web”</a>. Enforcement is generally so weak that traders of the majority of live animals and plants can operate in plain sight with little fear of reprisal.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/may/05/europe-to-crack-down-on-wildlife-smugglers-following-guardian-investigation">Lacey Act in the US prevents the import of live organisms</a> from their countries of origin, in order to prevent potential laundering of wild-caught animals. But as Europe has no similar legislation, it provides a conduit in addition to an end point for trade.</p>
<p>The majority of the demand for these species, and especially rare species is from European and <a href="https://comtrade.un.org/data/">North American collectors</a>. But, as only a tiny portion of this trade is regulated (<a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10531-016-1193-8">2% of international amphibian trade</a>, and <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320716301987">10% of global reptile trade</a>), urgent action is needed to protect vulnerable species from possible extinction. </p>
<p><a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/conl.12270/abstract">As many species of reptiles, amphibians and orchids have not been listed by CITES</a> (due to insufficient information, or recent discovery), there is no real regulation in the animal trade. And customs officers cannot be expected to distinguish between a rare and a common orchid or frog, so simpler restrictions are required to prevent this potentially damaging trade.</p>
<h2>Innocent until proven guilty?</h2>
<p>As so many species have no CITES classification perhaps what we need is a paradigm shift so that only species classed as tradeable, and certified as such can be traded. This would mean all specimens without a certificate could not be transported internationally. </p>
<p>At present, tracking trade of whole groups is difficult as organisations that are in position to do this, such as the <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10531-016-1193-8">World Customs Organisation</a>, do not include records for amphibians. </p>
<p>Many species in the West can only have arrived through illegal routes, yet domestic trade of these species once in a country is currently unrestricted. Licensing or certification systems should be created as a mandatory part of the sale of any taxa vulnerable to exploitation, with confiscations and punishments used to assist compliance.</p>
<p>Collectors of live animals and plants are predominantly hobbyists, so the majority are unlikely to go to great lengths to procure specimens if any level of enforcement were instigated. Such action also needs to extend to finally restrict the <a href="http://www.trafficj.org/publication/16_Trading_Faces.pdf">thriving trade via the internet</a> in these species which currently exists. </p>
<p>Though <a href="https://eia-international.org/wp-content/uploads/EIA-Time-for-Action-main-report-FINAL.pdf">pledges have been made by European governments</a> to restrict wildlife trade, their efforts normally fail to account for the huge numbers of species at risk as pets and live specimens. Given the laundering and corruption in these species ranges, <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320716301987">restrictions on import by consumer countries are urgently needed</a>. </p>
<p>If we want any future for wild populations of these species, drastic action is needed to control their international and domestic trade. Without such action, we can expect to see the loss of many rare species to greed alone.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71571/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alice Catherine Hughes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>If we want any future for wild populations of the numerous species traded for pets, exhibits and use in medicines, drastic action is needed to control their international and domestic trade.Alice Catherine Hughes, Associate Professor in Landscape Ecology & Conservation, Chinese Academy of SciencesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/307032014-08-21T02:53:15Z2014-08-21T02:53:15ZWe have animal welfare laws but they don’t stop the suffering<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56869/original/ntnt94p5-1408505109.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">With an area smaller than an A4 sheet of paper required per bird, battery hens are debeaked so they don't peck each other to death.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battery_cage#mediaviewer/File:Animal_Abuse_Battery_Cage_01.jpg">Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Julian Burnside and Daniel Reynolds <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-australia-animals-have-better-rights-than-asylum-seekers-27583">wrote recently</a> for The Conversation that:</p>
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<p>… animals do have greater rights than asylum seekers in Australia. In fact, Australian law requires that animals be treated humanely, yet allows humans to be treated like animals. </p>
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<p>We believe there are deep problems with this reasoning, which also unnecessarily risks dividing two important social justice causes.</p>
<h2>Animals do not have ‘rights’</h2>
<p>Animals do not have “rights” in Australia. Australia’s international human rights obligations impose duties upon states to apply basic protections to human-persons. <a href="http://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/ccpr.aspx">These include</a>, for example, a right to life, freedom from torture and freedom from arbitrary detention. There are no similar basic protections for animals.</p>
<p>Australia does have long-standing animal welfare laws. Each state and territory in Australia has such laws and that there is a <a href="http://www.daff.gov.au/animal-plant-health/welfare/aaws">National Animal Welfare Strategy</a> – although the recent federal budget included significant <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-15/welfare-strategy-grants-freeze/5094560">funding cuts to the strategy</a>. It is also true that the strategy makes grand motherhood statements such as that animals under human control should be “healthy, properly fed and comfortable”. </p>
<p>However, the way such statements are translated into practice varies greatly depending on the species of animal in question and how the person controlling the animal makes use of that animal. The life of a racing dog is very different to that of a lap dog, and those differences are reflected in the law. </p>
<p>Think, for example, about animals bred to become food. The floor of a typical factory farm would be enough to reduce even the most hardened human rights lawyer to tears. </p>
<p>Australia’s animal welfare regulatory structure consists of laws, regulations and national codes. In the case of <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/environment/animals/lets-be-good-sports-and-abolish-battery-cages-20120215-1t5yt.html">battery hens</a>, the relevant <a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/Books/download.cfm?ID=3451">code for commercial egg-laying hens</a> stipulates that modern cages must provide each hen with 550cm<sup>2</sup>. That is a smaller area than a piece of A4 paper.</p>
<p>If you’re thinking to yourself, “but hens like being highly confined”, think again. The same code allows egg growers to remove hens’ beaks. They do this for one reason: highly confined hens will peck each other to death. </p>
<p>In the case of intensive agriculture, it is not clear if animal welfare protections are there for the benefit of animals or rather serve to codify harmful practice. Certainly, far from granting rights to animals, critics argue that Australia’s animal welfare regulatory framework provides farmers with a <a href="https://www.voiceless.org.au/sites/default/files/VoicelessFinalToolkit_010210small_1.pdf">defence against harm</a>. </p>
<p>One of the cornerstone rights in the <a href="http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/">Universal Declaration of Human Rights</a> is the “right to life” (Article 3). Animals in Australia have no such right, quite simply because we kill animals for food. In Australia, for example, we kill approximately <a href="http://www.unleashed.org.au/animals/chickens.php">500 million chickens a year</a>, <a href="http://www.unleashed.org.au/animals/sheep.php">33 million sheep a year</a> and <a href="http://www.unleashed.org.au/animals/pigs.php">five million pigs a year</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56870/original/yv9q7y8c-1408505807.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56870/original/yv9q7y8c-1408505807.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56870/original/yv9q7y8c-1408505807.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56870/original/yv9q7y8c-1408505807.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56870/original/yv9q7y8c-1408505807.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56870/original/yv9q7y8c-1408505807.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56870/original/yv9q7y8c-1408505807.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The kangaroo industry code of practice allows for joeys to be killed with a heavy blunt object.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/aidan_jones/3114939513/">Flickr/Aidan Jones</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is also lawful in Australia to kill the most privileged animals of all, companion animals. In 2010-11, RSPCA NSW killed almost <a href="http://www.news.com.au/national/shelter-animals-killed-for-convenience/story-fncynjr2-1226480386569">20,000 unwanted companion animals</a>. Unwanted companion animals are usually killed via lethal injection. </p>
<p>Australia’s treatment of animals that are deemed “pests” can be much more brutal. The commercial kangaroo industry’s <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/8ae26c87-fb7c-4ddc-b5df-02039cf1483e/files/code-conduct-commercial.pdf">national code of practice</a> states that when a female kangaroo is shot her joeys must be killed by a “blow to the head” with a “heavy blunt object”. In other words, the law prescribes that joeys be bludgeoned to death. </p>
<p>We are a very long way from recognising that animals have anything like fundamental “rights” in Australia.</p>
<h2>Seek justice for humans and animals</h2>
<p>The dehumanising treatment of asylum seekers that is part and parcel of the Australian mandatory detention regime should only remind us that severe violations of human rights actually look a lot like what we routinely do to animals.</p>
<p>Whenever we subject a human to a loss of the right to “life, liberty and security” or subject a human to “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment”, we should surely be aware that globally billions of animals are exposed to this sort of violence every day in pursuit of food, research output, or simply because some people enjoy hunting or betting on the races. </p>
<p>We believe that understanding what we humans do to animals, the inherent cruelty of current practices, helps us to be better advocates for the rights of both animals and humans.</p>
<p>Strong voices from advocates such as Burnside and Reynolds are needed now more than ever as the Australian government moves to implement an even stricter asylum seeker regime, which very clearly violates basic human rights norms. But we also urgently need voices to advocate for animals, and to do so with the facts in view. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/30703/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Siobhan O'Sullivan receives funding from Voiceless</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dinesh Wadiwel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Julian Burnside and Daniel Reynolds wrote recently for The Conversation that: … animals do have greater rights than asylum seekers in Australia. In fact, Australian law requires that animals be treated…Siobhan O'Sullivan, Research Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences, The University of MelbourneDinesh Wadiwel, Director, Master of Human Rights, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/272782014-05-29T20:41:19Z2014-05-29T20:41:19ZLive animal export rules are useless without enforcement<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49770/original/xz8jp4pg-1401348636.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">After a tip-off from an Egyptian vet, Animals Australia sparked a government investigation into what an industry leader described as "horrific" slaughtering practices in Egypt last year. Tougher rules have now been promised.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.animalsaustralia-media.org/upload/photos/egypt-live-export-investigation_2013/">Animals Australia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia looks set to resume exporting live sheep to Iran, after <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-28/iran-australia-livex-agreement/5484528">Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce</a> this week flagged the end of a 40-year ban following <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/28/australia-live-sheep-exports-iran">Iran’s Islamic revolution</a>. </p>
<p>Flanked by the chief executives of the Australian Livestock Exporters Council and the Sheepmeat Council of Australia, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-28/iran-australia-livex-agreement/5484528">Joyce stressed that</a> the deal would be a win, win, win: good for Australian sheep producers; good for the people of Iran; and – he stressed – good for animal welfare.</p>
<p>But is the Agriculture Minister right? Given controversies over Australian cattle being <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/special_eds/20110530/cattle/">violently mistreated in Indonesian</a> and <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/environment/animals/live-exports-to-egypt-suspended-20130504-2izb0.html">Egyptian abattoirs</a>, can Australians be confident about the welfare of animals shipped overseas?</p>
<p>Judging from the Department of Agriculture’s own figures, there are good reasons to be concerned about how well Australia’s animal welfare rules will be enforced under this new deal.</p>
<h2>Live export rules</h2>
<p>Australia’s <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-28/barnaby-joyce-seeks-to-restart-saudi-arabian-live-sheep-trade/5414888">live export welfare regulations</a> are often referred to as “ESCAS”, which stands for the <a href="http://www.daff.gov.au/biosecurity/export/live-animals/livestock/information-exporters-industry/escas">Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System</a>. ESCAS has four pillars: </p>
<ul>
<li>adherence to World Organisation for Animal Health animal welfare standards</li>
<li>exporter control of the supply chain, including at the point of slaughter</li>
<li>a traceable supply chain </li>
<li>and an independent audit of the supply chain. </li>
</ul>
<p>The Agriculture Minister said that once feedlot and abattoir facilities in Iran won approval under Australia’s ESCAS welfare rules, exports could resume. And, he said, that would mean improved animal welfare outcomes overall.</p>
<p>Curiously, while Joyce was able to produce two industry representatives <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/226703764/Untitled">to appear at his media conference</a>, no comparable representative was there to comment on his animal welfare claims. Notably absent was either the RSPCA or <a href="http://www.animalsaustralia.org/media/press_releases.php?release=205">Animals Australia</a>, two well-known, well-respected and highly politically-engaged animal welfare organisations. </p>
<p>Without Animals Australia, the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-05-30/doco-reveals-australian-cattle-tortured-overseas/2737644">mistreatment of Australian livestock</a> in both Indonesia and Egypt would not have been uncovered at all.</p>
<p>Only a year ago, the live cattle trade to Egypt was voluntarily halted after what Australian Livestock Exporters Council chief executive Alison Penfold described as <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/environment/animals/live-exports-to-egypt-suspended-20130504-2izb0.html#ixzz334w0P56v">“horrific” acts of “outrageous cruelty”</a> against Australian cattle. </p>
<p>That came about after an <a href="http://banliveexport.com/features/egyptian-vet-speaks-out.php">Egyptian veterinarian</a> contacted Animals Australia last year, concerned about the methods being used to slaughter Australian cattle, <a href="http://banliveexport.com/egypt">graphic footage</a> of which triggered an <a href="http://www.daff.gov.au/about/media-centre/dept-releases/2014/egypt-livestock-investigation-report-released">Australian government investigation</a> that found “one abattoir did not conform to international standards for animal welfare”.</p>
<p>The ban was <a href="http://www.daff.gov.au/biosecurity/export/live-animals/advisory-notices/2014/2014-02">lifted in March this year</a>, with Egyptian abattoirs now working to comply with the ESCAS rules.</p>
<h2>How well does ESCAS protect animal welfare?</h2>
<p>Putting aside some of those recent controversies, one animal welfare concern worth noting is that some animals travel better by boat than others – and sheep are not natural seafaring animals.</p>
<p>Every six months, the minister must table in Parliament a report from the department that includes livestock mortalities on every sea voyage. The table below summarises those reports to Parliament, showing that 14,067 or 0.74% of the sheep exported in Australia’s live trade died at sea – an improvement on the massive losses a decade ago, but still a high toll.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49756/original/ykmyqkj9-1401343352.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49756/original/ykmyqkj9-1401343352.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49756/original/ykmyqkj9-1401343352.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=133&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49756/original/ykmyqkj9-1401343352.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=133&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49756/original/ykmyqkj9-1401343352.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=133&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49756/original/ykmyqkj9-1401343352.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=167&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49756/original/ykmyqkj9-1401343352.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=167&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49756/original/ykmyqkj9-1401343352.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=167&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Live sheep exports, 2000 to 2013.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.daff.gov.au/biosecurity/export/live-animals/livestock/regulatory-framework/compliance-investigations/investigations-mortalities">Department of Agriculture</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Indeed, in 1985, an Australian Senate Select Committee on Animal Welfare conducted an inquiry into the live animal export industry. Its report was not complimentary. It included <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-live-export-of-animals-will-always-be-a-bloody-business-10547">the observation that</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>if a decision were to be made on the future of the trade purely on animal welfare grounds, there is enough evidence to stop the trade. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>However, this week Joyce said Australia is now <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-28/iran-australia-livex-agreement/5484528">“leading the world in animal husbandry”</a>, thanks to our ESCAS rules.</p>
<p>So just how well is ESCAS performing? As any first year legal student can tell you, laws without an accompanying enforcement mechanism are of little value.</p>
<p>Yet enforcement – or making sure there is an “independent audit” of the supply chain in the importing country, just as the ESCAS rules promise – appears to be a big challenge for Australia’s Department of Agriculture.</p>
<h2>Who’s really policing our animal welfare rules?</h2>
<p>The <a href="http://www.daff.gov.au/biosecurity/export/live-animals/livestock/regulatory-framework/compliance-investigations/investigations-regulatory-compliance">Department’s website records 34 complaints</a> between February 2012 and May 20 this year about live animal welfare in relation to live animal exports. </p>
<p>Of those 34, 19 were made by Animals Australia; seven by exporters; three by the public; two by the RSPCA; two by an external party; and one by the media. </p>
<p>Based on this, Animals Australia appears to be doing a disproportionate amount of unpaid enforcement work on behalf of the Australian government, the Australian people and industry. And you have to ask: what exactly is the Department of Agriculture itself doing to enforce the ESCAS system?</p>
<p>Those figures, and the fact that “horrific” mistreatment has been uncovered by animal activists rather than by officials, raise the question of who’s really policing these standards. If the federal government is serious about ensuring our animal welfare standards are the best in the world, perhaps it could consider funding Animals Australia to continue upholding the “independent audit” fourth pillar of the ESCAS system.</p>
<p>While the exclusion of any kind of animal welfare organisation from the minister’s press conference was disappointing, both <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-29/nrn-iran-livex-reax/5486516">the RSPCA and Animals Australia</a> have since made their views clear.</p>
<p>“The government is talking about opening a new market when there is no one even policing the old markets,” Animals Australia said in a statement.</p>
<p>And <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-29/nrn-iran-livex-reax/5486516">RSPCA Australia chief executive Heather Neil warned</a> that ESCAS is not a guarantee that animals will be treated well.</p>
<p>“I think there’s enough examples with ESCAS going terribly wrong and the government doing really very little in order to bring exporters into line and to take away their licences, when they’ve shown time and time again to be getting it wrong.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/27278/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Siobhan O'Sullivan has received funding from Voiceless</span></em></p>Australia looks set to resume exporting live sheep to Iran, after Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce this week flagged the end of a 40-year ban following Iran’s Islamic revolution. Flanked by the chief…Siobhan O'Sullivan, Research Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/199092013-11-07T01:16:53Z2013-11-07T01:16:53ZSpying ‘scandal’: another challenge to the Australia-Indonesia relationship?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34597/original/5vxq7f5h-1383781056.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Indonesia foreign minister Marty Natalegawa has criticised Australia over allegations of spying, but will it actually adversely reflect our relationship?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Bagus Indahono</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For anyone interested in Australia-Indonesia relations, nothing so characterises the phenomenon as a car on a roller-coaster. Any rise is followed inevitably by a fall. The ride is never boring, and in a bizarre kind of way it is quite predictable. But sometimes you might hope for a little more stability, a few more moments of calm.</p>
<p>The latest plunge in the relationship has been prompted by revelations that Australia has been <a href="http://www.news.com.au/national/snowden-chills-indonesia-relationship/story-e6frfkp9-1226754505321">intercepting electronic communications</a> in Indonesia. The Australian Ambassador to Indonesia, Greg Moriarty, has been <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-01/indonesia-australian-embassy-spying-spies-espionage-jakarta/5062626">called into</a> the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to explain his government’s position. </p>
<p>Indonesian foreign minister Marty Natalegawa <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/indonesia-steps-up-attack-over-spying-20131104-2wx8c.html">has warned</a> that if Australia does not acknowledge what it has done, and promise not to do it again, intelligence co-operation in areas such as people smuggling will be at risk.</p>
<p>All very serious, apparently.</p>
<p>But first a reality check. Natalegawa is a highly experienced former senior diplomat who has represented his country as Ambassador to the UN and to the UK. He has a master’s degree from Cambridge and a PhD from the ANU. His international travel bill would rival that of Kevin Rudd. I would be gobsmacked if he learnt anything new about our intelligence-gathering activities in Indonesia from Edward Snowden’s revelations. </p>
<p>What the revelations have done, though, is to put these allegations into the public arena. And here any political leader must act concerned, must protest their shock and horror, and must demand an end to these activities immediately. Our leaders would do this if it was publicly revealed that the Indonesian embassy in Canberra was tapping Tony Abbott’s mobile phone. In this sense, Natalegawa’s statements follow a predictable script.</p>
<p>In addition, though, Natalegawa is playing to a domestic audience which is highly sensitive to suggestions of foreign meddling in Indonesian affairs. In part, this might be seen in the context of next year’s <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21584981-parties-search-presidential-candidate-ordinary-indonesians-think-only-jokowi-pictured">parliamentary and presidential elections</a>.</p>
<p>But even without such elections, Natalegawa would be pressed to act. One leading international law scholar, Professor Hikmahanto Juwana of the University of Indonesia, <a href="http://nasional.kompas.com/read/2013/11/06/1139217/Presiden.SBY.Minta.Penyadapan.Tak.Terulang">summed up the situation</a> this way:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If the government does not take a strong and firm stand, the anger of the Indonesian people will be redirected from the US and Australia to the government, and even to President Yudhoyono.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Just as tellingly, Juwana said that if the government’s position ended up being one of “business as usual”, it would look particularly strange, given that even Indonesia’s neighbour Malaysia had taken a strong stand on the issue. To be thought of as less nationalistic and less firm with foreigners than Malaysia is something no self-respecting government of Indonesia would risk.</p>
<p>Yet in an interesting reversal of logic, some elements in Indonesia seem to be quietly pleased by the spying revelations. Nobody spies on countries which are of no significance internationally, or who have no secrets worth knowing. Therefore, the fact that Australia - and more significantly the US - has been spying on Indonesia is proof of the country’s importance.</p>
<p>As one commentator wrote, in an <a href="http://www.antaranews.com/berita/403276/upaya-indonesia-atasi-penyadapan">article</a> carried by the state-run Antara news agency:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Given its geopolitical and geostrategic significance, it is no wonder that Indonesia is the target of bugging by foreign agencies with a variety of interests in Indonesia.</p>
<p>Foreign interests always want to know more about what is happening in Indonesia, and what might happen here.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The same article quoted retired Major-General Glenny Kairupan, a former senior official of the Strategic Intelligence Agency, as saying that Indonesia was naturally the target of bugging by various foreign interests because Indonesia is of such strategic significance.</p>
<p>It is also interesting that as there is still no full-time Indonesian news correspondent based in Australia, the reports of the bugging episode in the Indonesian press are generally sourced from stringers or from foreign news agencies. And in an ironic turn of events, probably the most frequently used foreign news source is the Indonesian language service of the ABC’s <a href="http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/">Radio Australia</a>.</p>
<p>How important is this issue in the broad sweep of Indonesian politics? It has certainly grabbed some headlines – but so have the various Australian parliamentary <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/rorting-rules-unchanged-and-behaviour-much-the-same-20131008-2v6eg.html">travel rorts</a>, which many Indonesians seem to have read about with some relief as showing that their politicians are not the only ones with their hands in the public till. </p>
<p>The renewed discussions about <a href="http://www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/aust-sheep-brutally-slaughtered-in-jordan/story-e6frfku9-1226750086643">live cattle exports</a> has attracted some attention too. Domestically, the issue cannot compete with the news that prominent businessman Ahmad Fathanah, who is associated with the Islamist party PKS, has been <a href="http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/ahmad-fathanah-sentenced-to-14-years-for-graft/">sentenced to 14 years jail</a> for corruptly manipulating quotas of beef imports.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34598/original/92bdnmc9-1383781467.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34598/original/92bdnmc9-1383781467.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34598/original/92bdnmc9-1383781467.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34598/original/92bdnmc9-1383781467.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34598/original/92bdnmc9-1383781467.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34598/original/92bdnmc9-1383781467.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34598/original/92bdnmc9-1383781467.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Australia’s role in the live cattle trade continues to attract headlines in Indonesia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Dave Hunt</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Will Jakarta follow up on Natalegawa’s threat to cut intelligence sharing on people smuggling? Not because of this issue – though we need to remember that Australian and Indonesian interests on people smuggling are <a href="https://theconversation.com/does-indonesia-care-about-turning-back-the-boats-15367">not exactly parallel</a>. While the Australian government wants to stop people smugglers bring asylum seekers into the country, the Indonesian government wants to get asylum seekers out of theirs.</p>
<p>But on most other issues on which intelligence is shared - mostly notably terrorism - Jakarta has at least as much to lose as Australia if the sharing were to be halted. Jakarta is not going to cut off its nose to spite its face. So expect a bit more bluster, but no significant, concrete action.</p>
<p>The car on the roller-coaster will soon reach its nadir and start its climb upwards again, back to the status quo.</p>
<p>The more things change…</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/19909/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Colin Brown does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>For anyone interested in Australia-Indonesia relations, nothing so characterises the phenomenon as a car on a roller-coaster. Any rise is followed inevitably by a fall. The ride is never boring, and in…Colin Brown, Adjunct Professor, Griffith Asia Institute, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/158512013-07-05T21:53:23Z2013-07-05T21:53:23ZA new turn in the Australian-Indonesian relationship?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/26977/original/k2drzsmd-1373016184.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Kevin Rudd's visit to Indonesia may yet mark a high point between the two countries.</span> </figcaption></figure><p>An Australian prime minister visiting Indonesia is nothing new, but Kevin Rudd’s current visit is generating more than the usual amount of attention, coinciding with the DFAT release of its <a href="http://www.dfat.gov.au/issues/asian-century/indonesia/downloads/indonesia-country-strategy.pdf">Indonesia Country Strategy</a>, and the day after one of <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/">Q&A</a>’s most penetrating discussions from its Jakarta panelists. </p>
<p>While we historians can always argue about whether the current moment is the highpoint in Australian-Indonesian relations (more important than Australia’s support for Indonesian independence? I don’t think so), certainly the visit sends positive signals.</p>
<p>The three main issues discussed were the predictable ones; live cattle, refugees and Papua/West Papua. But both sides presented new angles on these issues. </p>
<p>Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono made it clear that refugees (“boat people”) were not his country’s highest priority, but also made generous gestures to Rudd’s domestic concerns by showing that Indonesia wanted to do something about the problem. </p>
<p>His multilateral approach is right - it will be impossible for one country acting alone to stop the tragic loss of lives. There have to be regionally-based attempts that include other ASEAN nations, and importantly solutions that include the source countries. Solving the problems of Iraq and Afghanistan is probably still going to be a tall order. </p>
<p>As yet no one has mentioned the strange anomaly of Australia’s two “external territories” lying just off the coast of Indonesia: Cocos Keeling Islands and Christmas Island. Should their status also be part of discussions?</p>
<p>The cattle export issue requires a lateral solution, one that will not involve further animal cruelty. The idea of trying to develop some kind of joint industry is a positive one, since there are a lot of possibilities for a regional focus that takes in eastern Indonesia and northern Australia. </p>
<p>Doing this would actually reopen a connection with a deep past: I’m part of a project that has been researching the flourishing pearl-shell industry that existed between our two countries from 1905 to 1942. It is important to jointly develop larger endeavours, rather than focus on single aspects of trade. Encouraging Australian investment in Indonesia would be a good step along the way.</p>
<p>Papua/West Papua invokes an instinctive nationalist reaction from Indonesians. A new strategy of greater regional autonomy announced by the President would be a possible first step in healing this running sore. Nevertheless, Indonesia is yet to take clear action against members of the military and police responsible for human rights abuses. Doing so, and opening up the region to greater scrutiny by journalists and human rights observers, would go a long way to improving Indonesia’s international standing.</p>
<p>While the relationship is going well, it will not take much to unsettle it: there are enough inflammatory statements by Australian rednecks and Indonesian ultra-nationalists circulating online to show that it is easy to play to stereotypes on both sides. </p>
<p>A change of government in Australia would probably not greatly upset matters, unless Australia took wild unilateral actions. On the other hand, the 2014 Indonesian presidential elections take us into unknown territory. President Yudhoyono cannot run again, and there is little enthusiasm for his family members who want to run in his place. </p>
<p>A worst-case scenario would see Major General (ret) Prabowo Subianto become president. Prabowo’s record in East Timor, West Papua, and in the student riots of 1998 is well-known. The indications are that he would be much more aggressive in prosecuting an ultra-nationalist agenda than was his late father-in-law, Suharto. The pundits favour ex-furniture salesman and charismatic mayor of Jakarta, Jokowi (Joko Wibowo). He would be a liberal leader who could help develop the economy, but current predictions have it that Jokowi might run with Prabowo as his deputy. Indonesian democracy is now very robust, but will it be robust enough for such an arrangement?</p>
<p>I was recently in Jakarta, where I found that, more than ever, Indonesians appreciate Australia, probably more than Australians appreciate Indonesia (Bali excepted). It was fun to be discussing the history of Australian-Indonesian relations, and to have a jilbab (hijab)-wearing student talk about how much she likes <em>Bondi Rescue</em>. A large number of Indonesians have spent time in Australia, but far fewer Australians have spent time in Indonesia. </p>
<p>While Q&A had a mainly-Indonesian panel who could discuss matters of great complexity in English, it will be a long time before a panel of Australian media editors, NGO leaders and government advisors will be able to speak so eloquently in Indonesian. </p>
<p>One of the biggest challenges is addressing the asymmetrical nature of the connection between our countries. My Indonesian interlocutors brought this home to me in Jakarta by asking whether Indonesia really needs Australia as much as Australia needs Indonesia? I don’t have easy answers to that question, but finding ways to address it should be a major preoccupation of the political leaders on both sides.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/15851/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adrian Vickers receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>An Australian prime minister visiting Indonesia is nothing new, but Kevin Rudd’s current visit is generating more than the usual amount of attention, coinciding with the DFAT release of its Indonesia Country…Adrian Vickers, Professor of Southeast Asian Studies, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/100872012-11-07T03:28:17Z2012-11-07T03:28:17ZMainstream crusade – how the animal rights movement boomed<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/16656/original/b2scckfq-1350520463.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ban Live Exports: Melbourne Rally, Saturday, 6 October 2012.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gonzalo Villaneuva</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>More than a year has passed since Animals Australia and the RSPCA, in conjunction with ABC’s <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2011/s3228880.htm">Four Corners revealed</a> that Australian cattle were being routinely slaughtered in Indonesian abattoirs while fully conscious.</p>
<p>Despite <a href="http://www.daff.gov.au/liveexports/home">stricter regulations</a> since then, we have seen recent reports of Australian sheep being “<a href="http://www.theage.com.au/environment/animals/australian-sheep-clubbed-stabbed-buried-alive--pakistan-report-20120927-26n91.html">clubbed, stabbed, and buried alive</a>” in Pakistan. In “<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2012/11/02/3623727.htm">Another Bloody Business</a>”, Four Corners graphically revealed the slaughter and once again exposed the political fault lines.</p>
<p>These reports have reignited the <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-ten-year-plan-to-phase-out-live-animal-exports-9870">ethical and economic questions</a> around the trade of transporting live animals to be slaughtered in a foreign marketplace. There are renewed calls for a <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/nff-condemns-mass-sheep-cull-in-pakistan/story-fn3dxiwe-1226511200206">ban to be placed on the industry</a>, with increasing pressure from Labor backbenchers, the Greens, and Independent MP Andrew Wilkie.</p>
<p>The animal rights movement has once again mobilised. Thousands of people recently attended national demonstrations, organised by <a href="http://www.animalsaustralia.org/features/thousands-rally-against-live-exports.php">Animals Australia</a>. This time, their events received favourable media coverage in major newspapers and on television. </p>
<p>But this was not always the case.</p>
<h2>The industry’s opposition to live exports</h2>
<p>In the 1970s, the export trade was beset by industrial grievances. Due to changing demand for wool, employment in the meat industry fluctuated and abattoirs began to close. In 1974, the <a href="http://amieu.asn.au/">Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union</a> (AMIEU) initiated a campaign that targeted the companies associated with the live export trade, seeking to lobby governments to place restrictions and ratios on the industry, to protect meat workers’ jobs.</p>
<p>The campaigns increased in the late 1970s with blockades and pickets. But support was weak due to the influence of the farming constituency in those communities. For the first decade of the campaign, the AMIEU had obtained little community support for its cause, and no positive media coverage.</p>
<p>Around the same time, the animal rights movement belatedly entered the debate. In 1979, the issue of the trade was brought to the attention of the RSPCA Victoria by a passionate council member, who personally investigated the issue. Not long after, the RSPCA Victoria developed an official policy opposing the trade. Similarly, the nascent Animal Liberation groups and later the Australian and New Zealand Federation of Animal Societies (ANZFAS), <a href="http://www.animalsaustralia.org/">now known as Animals Australia</a>, strongly objected to the trade based on moral issues.</p>
<h2>Strange bedfellows</h2>
<p>Nonetheless, criticisms of the trade in the Australian Parliament in the 1970s solely focused around the potential negative impact live exports had on meat workers, an issue predominately raised by Labour MPs. In other words, the debate was based around economic preoccupations, and at the time no consideration was given to the welfare of animals. This all began to slowly change due a few historic events.</p>
<p>In 1979, concerned wharfies brought to the attention of the RSPCA Victoria the poor health of a consignment of horses, which were to be sent to Japan for slaughter for human consumption. In a meeting with the RSPCA, the union declared that they would refuse to the load any horses unless an RSPCA vet gave a health clearance. Despite pressures from stakeholders and government, the union were unwavering in their position.</p>
<p>The apex of this debacle emerged soon after. In Port Botany, NSW, on 6 April 1980, waterside workers and RSPCA vets stalled the <em>Searoader</em>, which was carrying 42 horses. The shipping line company eventually conceded that the horses were in poor health. They were unloaded and taken to a rehabilitation facility in Yagoona, operated by the RSPCA NSW.</p>
<p>The first event where animal activists participated at a major rally against the trade was in Portland, Victoria. On 12 May 1980, disgruntled by declining job opportunities, meat workers picketed and blockaded the carrier ship the <em>Al Qurain</em>. Joining the trade unionists were two women, their three children and a sixteen year old, who formed part of Animal Liberation groups – today, one of the children, Noah, is president of <a href="http://www.alv.org.au/index.php">Animal Liberation Victoria (ALV)</a>. </p>
<p>Christine Townend and Patty Mark had formed Animal Liberation groups in their respective cities in the late 1970s. They joined the protest carrying placards which read: “Pain for Animals, Profit for People”.</p>
<p>Initially suspicious, the workers welcomed them. In what may seem like a strange relationship, the unionists and animal liberationists were united, for differing reasons, in a common struggle: to ban live animal exports. That day hundreds of police escorted several trucks of sheep to the docks. After 12 hours, mounted police and officers on foot dispersed the blockade.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/16857/original/3t7d2m6g-1351052557.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/16857/original/3t7d2m6g-1351052557.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/16857/original/3t7d2m6g-1351052557.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/16857/original/3t7d2m6g-1351052557.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/16857/original/3t7d2m6g-1351052557.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/16857/original/3t7d2m6g-1351052557.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/16857/original/3t7d2m6g-1351052557.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A sheep ship en route to Saudi Arabia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">chrisindarwin/Flickr</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Parliament weighs in</h2>
<p>These episodes did not go unnoticed. For the first time in the history of the trade, concerns for the welfare of animals were being raised in the Australian Parliament. The day after the Portland confrontation, Liberal MP Peter Falconer asked the Coalition government: “Can the Minister assure the House that all the necessary Commonwealth measures are being taken to ensure the welfare of the sheep?” </p>
<p>Previous events had not generated any concerns for animal welfare from politicians. The prevailing attitudes towards the trade are captured by an editorial in a <a href="http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1300&dat=19800513&id=DfdUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=AJMDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4161,6058891">1980s edition of <em>The Age</em></a>, the day after Portland. It dismissed the grievances of the meat workers, but also stated that claims of cruelty should be separated from the debate, so as to not “cloud the economic arguments about the trade”. </p>
<p>Concern for animal welfare came to feature in Australian Parliamentary debates in consecutive years. Pushing the agenda were the Australian Democrats under the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Chipp">leadership of Don Chipp</a>. As a result of their efforts, Parliament established the first <a href="http://www.daff.gov.au/animal-plant-health/welfare/aaws/online/approach">Select Senate Committee on Animal Welfare</a>. By 1985 the Committee produced their first report on the live export of sheep from Australia - a milestone, and just the beginning.</p>
<h2>Making it mainstream</h2>
<p>The efforts of animal welfare organisations and animal rights groups have been instrumental in fundamentally shifting perceptions about how we <a href="https://theconversation.com/about-time-science-and-a-declaration-of-animal-consciousness-9513">should or should not treat animals</a>. In the 1970s, they were on the fringes in campaigning against a trade that exported animals. By 1980, the movement was beginning to assert itself with some achievements. In 2012, the movement is mainstream, and has become a powerful voice for how we assess and judge live animal exports and other matters. </p>
<p>The AMIEU are no longer the main contenders; yet their grievances are still on the agenda. In the future, animal rights may be the next <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-increasingly-uncomfortable-with-animal-cruelty-3439">great social justice movement</a>. Some may say it already is.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/10087/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gonzalo N Villanueva does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>More than a year has passed since Animals Australia and the RSPCA, in conjunction with ABC’s Four Corners revealed that Australian cattle were being routinely slaughtered in Indonesian abattoirs while…Gonzalo N Villanueva, PhD Candidate, School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.