Following an unsuccessful last-minute court challenge by Animals Australia, Australian Greens Animal Welfare spokesperson Senator Mehreen Faruqi has said that the Agriculture Minister, David Littleproud MP, must urgently intervene to halt the departure of the RETWA live export ship from Australia.
Senator Faruqi will move a motion in the Senate this afternoon calling on the Minister to intervene and stop the RETWA ship from departing Australia.
Senator Faruqi said:
“Minister Littleproud should do his job and enforce the new rules that are designed to protect animal welfare. This whole farce has revealed that the ‘independence’ of the Department as the regulator is a joke.
“It’s outrageous that for this government, when business interests and animal welfare collide, profit wins out every time.
“50,000 sheep will face inevitable suffering and great risk of death if this journey goes ahead.
“This exemption makes a complete mockery of the new animal welfare rules which were only very recently introduced, to prevent animals being shipped during the dangerously hot northern summer conditions.
“We are now halfway through June, and it’s only going to get hotter as this ship makes its way towards the equator.
“We need an Independent Office of Animal Welfare, operating at arm’s length from other functions of government. Animal welfare should be protected on principle and not thrown out the window whenever there’s a buck to be made,” she said.
Motion 670 available on the Senate Notice Paper.
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