In the latest Splash 24/7, Lynn Simpson pays tribute to the courage and integrity of Fazal Ullah, the Pakistani navigation officer who exposed the truth of live sheep export.
In between she slams the government regulator who never lifted a finger...the Department of Ag. VALE too hopes for a bravery award for Fazal. We also thank Lynn for her tireless work in Australia and around the world to raise awareness of live export cruelty.
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Australia has a "MATES" program that is run at Vietnamese abattoir, Vissan. According to one report, Vissan is a very well-established market leader with a large workforce well-trained in the safe handling of food products for domestic and export markets.
The yearly revenue currently apparently sits at VND$4.6 trillion (AU$264.76 million), an 18% increase from last year....and we off to shell out 146 million over 5 years. Meanwhile back home in OZ, a courageous local initiative AACo's abattoir in NT is allowed to go into mothballs. 200 employees laid off........and where was the Aussie govt? Busy propping up live-ex markets as usual with Aussie taxpayer money. Clearly in this country where everyone is supposed to be given a "fair go", 200 abattoir workers are not worth 200 farmers...... BUT this decision doesnt only impact abattoir workers.....it could impact farmers as well, when some risk factor again hits live ex and makes it all go belly up. A whole review into Departmental culture and compliance has not had any effect on the Department at all as could be seen by First Secretary Narelle Clegg's answers in Senate Estimates.
If The Guardian has reported accurately, then Ms Clegg has claimed “The cause of death was heat stress,” adding that no regulations had been breached. Hmmmm lets think about that....if the 60 Minutes documentary is accurate (highly likely in this case), at least 2 regulations breached. There was the "small" issue of loading late pregnant sheep (contrary to ASEL) and the very serious issue of the veterinarian allegedly leaving the ship before the end of discharge (again contrary to law)....Did the Dept ask to see the flight tickets/itinerary for the vet and stockman? Incompetence or turning a blind eye???? Dont just cry about it - do something about it! The Guardian reported: "The assistant secretary of the agriculture department, Narelle Clegg, broke down during a Senate estimates hearing while describing the conditions on a live export ship that led to the deaths of 2,400 sheep."
And well she should. Because her Department is a disgrace. Just look at VALE's analysis of a routine voyage last Sept 2017 in which hot sheep panted in temperature well above the Merino heat stress threshold for 19-20 consecutive days. The Dept failed to notice that despite this incessant panting and despite temperatures exceeding the governments own erroneous heat stress threshold (going close to the governments sheep mortality limit on some days), heat stress was not mentioned once. YOUR DEPT NARELLE and there was no investigation. Much the same thing next voyage... There are only 3 conclusions, apathy, incompetence, or turning a blind eye. CHECK OUT THE FOI DOCS and VALE's ANALYSIS on our HIGH MORTALITY VOYAGE PAGE. So said the West Australian yesterday....
Paul Murray from the West Australian is critical of attempts by the Government and the industry to stave off the inevitable.... So if we go back to Tony York's question of "At What Cost"......well it seems to both VALE and The West that the writing is on the wall. The cost of ignoring the forecasts and not changing their business model whilst there is still time is likely to be greater than the loss of the trade itself!! in 1964, Ruth Harrison said "if one person is unkind to an an animal it is considered to be cruelty, but where a lot of people are unkind to a lot of animals, especially in the name of commerce, the cruelty is condoned and, once large sums of money are at stake, will be defended to the last by otherwise intelligent people"
So, with that in mind, watch the excellent Video from Channel 7 embedded into The West Australian today: https://thewest.com.au/countryman/livestock/live-exports-on-knife-edge-as-buyers-search-for-new-markets-ng-b88841638z Re a transition, Tony York asks...."At What Cost?" Its not about cost Tony...it is about preventing recognised, documented and sanctioned animal cruelty on a very large scale. Another heatwave has hit Karachi and "dozens" or "up to 100" people have died.
The ABC report states that "the duration of heatwaves in the country had increased fivefold in the previous 30 years." In March, at least 7 countries in Asia broke monthly temperature records, including Qatar which reached 40 degrees on March 30 breaking the previous high of 39 degrees for March. These types of heat events are expected to become more frequent as the overall climate gets warmer. One source states "it becomes easier to set warm temperature extremes, even in months that didn't used to see such hot and potentially deadly weather." And yet our government has ignored the Australian Veterinary Association recommendations and put sheep on ships to head into the Middle East summer. Outrageous. A Perth Court yesterday heard Mr Garry Robinson, 46, at the time a manager for Wellard Rural Exports, instructed an employee to digitally change two documents to wrongly state that sheep (turned away in Bahrain) had been vaccinated to ensure that he could offload the sheep in Pakistan. 22000 of them, which were then brutally slaughtered.
Judge Michael Gething said the documents were “critical in the course of the chain”. “Take out Mr Robinson’s actions and we don’t even get there ... they wouldn’t have been there in the first place,” Gething said. So what penalty did Mr Robinson get for his role in the terrible cruelty meted out to 22000 sheep....$20000 dollars....<$1/sheep. See full report in The Guardian Nine News reports: A former live export industry boss who falsified documents that led to 22,000 Australian sheep being brutally slaughtered in Pakistan will be sentenced in a Perth court.
The shipment of sheep in 2012 had been rejected by Bahrain due to disease fears but Garry Robinson's falsified paperwork prompted Pakistani authorities to accept the animals. Mr Robinson is reported as currently working for Harmony Agriculture and Food Company. The chief executive officer of Harmony Agriculture and Food Company is Mr Steve Meerwald, the former managing director of Wellard Rural Exports A landmark day in Australian live ex history. Liberal MP, Sussan Ley has quietly stuck to her guns, researched the truth, the science and the economics....and today gave a very compelling speech as she launched her Live Sheep Long Haul Export Prohibition Bill. She so clearly outlined, if nothing else why live ex doesnt even have a business case let alone a moral case.....
Check out her Live Sheep Long Haul Export Prohibition Bill – 2nd reading speech VALE wishes to congratulate Sussan Ley MP as well as her colleagues Sarah Henderson MP and Jason Wood MP. Now we just have to get behind her and all start letting our politicians know what we want....there is a chance she can get the numbers. See: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-21/bill-to-end-live-sheep-export-trade-introduced-by-sussan-ley/9781214 |
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