The Ocean Drover, owned by Wellard has finally been sold to enable distributions to shareholders. The ship has been sold to a Turkish concern so is unlikely to be ever back in Australia. Another ship out of the ever-dwindling Australian fleet...
See: https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2025-01-14/wellard-to-sell-mv-ocean-drover-and-consider-winding-up-business/104814504

The Al Messilah finally seems to have passed inspection at Fremantle and is loading sheep - a 40 yo ship converted in 1996.....and industry claim state of the art purpose built vessels! And at least one truck was seen heading to Port with a down sheep that was panting heavily and making no attempt to rise despite space to do so (video available) for many km of the final trip from Leach highway to Port. It is unknown whether this represents an ill sheep loaded onto a truck or whether an injury occurred on the truck. DPIRD were notified but did not respond, merely informing observers that they would have to lodge a "cruelty" report with RSPCA because that will get immediate help for the sheep....not! Lets hope it was rejected at Port.

ABC Reports that Minerva Foods has closed its sheep abattoir at Tammin, in WA's Wheatbelt, pending a review of operations and investment needs. Industry representatives say the closure is a result of dwindling stock numbers due to sheep farmers preparing for the closure of the live export trade. If so why did Minerva's other abattoir near Esperance close down in Sept 2023 before the ban on live export had even gone through parliament and when there were apparently excess sheep numbers. Farmers cant have it both ways - either there is not enough kill space (which was reportedly a problem if live ex were to stop) or there too much kill space (which should not helpful if live ex stops). Bottom line is that it doesnt matter - Regardless, the industry will claim it is all due to the ban in 3 years time)of the live export trade. If the rains dont come or the sky goes purple it will also be due to the live export ban. The illogical hysteria continues stridently on.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of Muslims undertake the Hajj –the sacred pilgrimage to Mecca. In 2024, the pilgrimage took place in mid-June, the start of the Saudi summer. The Conversation reports more than 1,300 pilgrims never made it home.
Lethal heat combined with humidity proved deadly even in a species with sweat glands and no woollen jumpers, not housed in a steel box with temperatures well above the ambient.

The pilgrimage started on June 14. Over the next six days, the temperature topped 51°C, while “wet-bulb temperatures” (the combination of temperature and humidity) rose as high as 29.5°C.  So, at wet bulb temperatures which are not uncommon on live export ships and and which, despite industry claims to the contrary, often cause significant heat stress in sheep, humans died. The article points out the problem will only worsen in the Middle East with climate change and humidity.

A good time to end sheep exports to the Middle East. It is likely that with these climate change events, consideration will also have to be given to cattle exports in the not so distant future also.

The latest Camorra research commissioned by SPCA in New Zealand shows there is ‘very low’ public trust in New Zealand’s live export industry. The survey results include 74% of respondents saying the public should be given a say on draft legislation to overturn the ban, 95% of the public believing that the welfare of livestock is important and 82% agreeing that “we cannot guarantee how animals are treated once they reach their destination.”
The Maritime Union of New Zealand, which represents seafarers and stevedores has officially voted to oppose the resumption of live animal exports. In an interview with Australia-based Stop Live Exports group, Victor Billot, Communications Officer from the Maritime Union of New Zealand, said: “When we discussed the issue as a union, even our wharfies were concerned about animal welfare. It’s not a nice trade; it’s not good for animals and it’s not something New Zealand should entertain with the reputation we’ve worked hard for as a quality exporter.

The ABC reported that Australia is on track to have its biggest year for mutton exports, with more than 200,000 tonnes sent overseas in the first 10 months of 2024. According to Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA), Australia has processed nearly 1 million sheep over the past four weeks, which is up 42 per cent on the same period last year, and up 72 per cent on the same period in 2022.
So....what are Keep the Sheep banging on about and why is live ex so important? Who knows? There is clearly a huge demand and a lucrative market for exported mutton making a mockery of the necessity to send live sheep. So, the obvious choice is to Kill the Sheep here....!

In an opinion piece in Splash 24/7 (Live Animal Exports: False Hopes on a Dying Fleet) , experienced former AAV Dr Lynn Simpson aired similar views to long time exporter and export veterinarian Dr Tony Brightling. Both argue that regardless of legislation, the trade is dying due to lack of ships. Both have proposed similar reasons for that. Dr Simpson points out that Australia is not even a big world player in live sheep export terms these days. If we examine that point further and compare number of sheep exported from each country in 2023, Australia comes in at number 7:

Millions of Live Sheep exported per country 2023
Sudan 5
Somalia 4.5
European Union 2.8
Romania 2.3
Spain 1.4
Jordan 1.3 (so why do we export live sheep to Jordan and where are Australian sheep going really?)
Australia 0.68 

CEO of ALEC Mark Harvey Sutton has hit back and claimed Tony Brightling, an experienced live export figure is “Drastically off course” with his analysis of the viability of the live sheep export trade. In an odd statement, Harvey Sutton claimed that Brightling "has twice now commented in support of Labor’s malign ban on live sheep exports".  Even if we ignore the wording, this is a strange assertion as no-one reading the two Brightling opinion pieces would find any support of Labor's legislative changes. Both pieces would appear to claim that the trade is dying anyway and would seem (to an non-exporter) to be urging farmers not to invest in fighting something not worth fighting for and to suggest farmers move on, get more money out of the government, change practices etc rather than being hurt emotionally and financially by a trade that is dying with or without Labor's legislation.
And of course Harvey Sutton provided no explanation as to why there have been no big ships into Fremantle since the end of the NHS summer (September). The Al Messilah may be being patched up in China. But where is the Maysora? the Al Kuwait? the Ocean Drover? Anna Marra (Awassi Express)? Where are the exporters if all is so rosy? Could Tony Brighting perhaps be correct...more money and less red tape elsewhere so why bother with Australia?

In an opinion piece in Beef Central, long time live exporter and live export stalwart Dr Tony Brightling, again expressed concerns about the viability of the live export sheep trade from Australia.

Brightling cites the distance from market, inability to supply year-round, animal welfare pressures, regulatory constraints and costs, regional hostilities and now also a shortage of shipping as unsurmountable obstacles to the long term viability in addition to winding back legislative change.

He again analyses lack of ships (there are no big ships coming into Freo currently) and points out that new builds would be required. "Convincing ship owners to invest the hundreds of millions of dollars required to build a new fleet of large livestock vessels that meet AMSA standards, to service an industry in its death throws – well, good luck with that one."

And he sums up "No amount of political posturing or farming community advocacy is going to change these fundamentals. There is no realistic prospect of a viable live sheep export trade after 1 May 2028. Time to move on."

See: https://www.beefcentral.com/news/opinion-what-does-the-future-hold-for-australias-live-sheep-trade/

So there it is....in 2024, we send cattle to China (21 days) and Vietnam (often >10 days) and a vet is not required by OUR Commonwealth Government. It seems that even under Joh, some things were better in 1985!!