The NSW Stud Merino Breeders’ Association condemns the Federal Labor Government’s recent decision to phase out live sheep exports, announced by Agriculture Minister Murray Watt.
The move to end live exports by sea by May 2028 is a decision that deliberately turns off market access for sheep producers, setting a dangerous precedent for the agricultural industry and could cause concerning repercussions across domestic markets for all farmers across Australia.
In making this announcement, Senator Watt is ignoring the complexity of the Australian sheep farming supply chain and shows complete ignorance to the interests of Australian farmers.
What industry will be the next target - cattle, Thoroughbred horses, greyhounds?
Australia was once a nation known to be “riding on the sheep’s back” but this decision could cause a future collapse in markets and mass reduction in sheep numbers across the country.
We have the best standards in the world when it comes to exporting live sheep - every sheep death on a sea voyage is published on the Australian Government’s Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry website every six months and investigated. No other nation places prescriptive and process-orientated regulatory requirements on every aspect of the livestock export supply chain like we do in Australia.
This decision concerns not only producers in the western states, who account for approximately 99% of all live sheep exports, but all Australian sheep producers who will feel the ripple effect from this move throughout our sheep and wool industries in the years to come.
We stand with all sheep producers who will be affected by the ban in their fight to overturn this disgraceful decision and show our support for the #KeepTheSheep campaign.
