Fed govt defends live animal export trade

The live animal export industry warns animals will suffer if Australia withdraws from the trade. Source: AAP

AGRICULTURE Minister Joe Ludwig continues to defend Australia's live animal export trade, fending off calls for the practice to be scrapped following shocking new footage showing cruelty against cattle.

Senator Ludwig said such instances of cruelty were an anomaly and Australia's export trade regulation was at its highest standard.

"There will be mistakes. Like in every industry, mistakes occur," Senator Ludwig told the ABC of the allegations of cruelty.

"What we do have in place is a system that allows us to investigate those complaints and fix them."

In excerpts shown by ABC TV on Monday, a bloodied bull is seen being attacked with a knife: repeatedly stabbed in the face and cut across the legs before collapsing in a pool of blood.

Other scenes seem to show cattle being ineptly slaughtered.

The industry has voluntarily suspended cattle exports to Egypt while the footage, taken by Animals Australia in October and April, is investigated.

However Independent MP Andrew Wilkie has called for an immediate ban on live animal exports following the release of the footage, which comes two years after Australia was rocked by revelations of similar animal cruelty linked to the trade.

"With each new revelation come more promises from the government to fix the trade, but each time these promises prove worthless and just more evidence that the government doesn't really care about animal welfare," Mr Wilkie said in a statement.

"The bottom line is that the live export business is systemically cruel and beyond remedy."

The Australian Greens also said the latest evidence of brutality showed the government couldn't protect live animal exports.

"The government should admit that they cannot stop cruel practices in overseas countries and give certainty to the industry by expanding the trade in processed meat from Australia," animal welfare spokeswoman Lee Rhiannon said.

Nationals senate leader Barnaby Joyce has called for caution when making decisions on the future of the trade, and warned that supply-chain guarantees may not be an effective way forward.

"You can't send people into destitution in Australia because of the bad practices of other people overseas with cattle that we no longer own," Senator Joyce told Sky News on Monday.

"They are not our cattle. They have been purchased by someone else.

"We've got to walk carefully on this one. When we sell people cattle we don't have an ownership right over them."

Australian Livestock Exporters' Council chief executive Alison Penfold said she visited one of the abattoirs involved late last year and at that time was satisfied its practices met international standards.

"We want to get to the bottom and understand why there has been a breakdown so that we can ensure that it doesn't happen again," she said.

About 3000 Australian cattle remain in feedlots in Egypt.

Senator Ludwig could not put a timeframe on the investigation, but insisted that "the community should have confidence in the system we've put in place".

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