Agriculture Minister Murray Watt has announced $107 million to help Australia’s sheep industry transition away from live exports, as part of a commitment to end the practice on May 1, 2028.
The support package includes $64.6 million to assist sheep producers with capitalising on existing and emerging opportunities so that they are well-positioned when the trade ends. This funding will assist businesses to plan and implement transition actions and to expand domestic sheep processing capacity. It will also support community wellbeing activities and rural financial counsellors.
Marketing of sheep products will receive $27.0 million domestically and internationally. With a range of delivery partners, including Austrade, this will fund activities such as market analyses, consumer studies, product promotions and building business relationships. Agricultural counsellors and Austrade will also work to support diverse trade and relationships in the Middle East and North Africa region — the primary recipients of Australian live sheep exports.
The remainder will go towards “improving sheep welfare standards so they meet community expectations” ($2.6 million), the appointment of a transition advocate to facilitate communication between industry and government ($1.7 million) and the implementation of the phaseout ($11.1 million).
Watt said the combination of the ban and transition package would ensure sheep farmers had a reliable source of income into the future while ensuring Australia had credible animal rights standards.
“This is a comprehensive package that will assist to strengthen supply chains, develop market opportunities and improve animal welfare … Processing sheep here in Australia adds value locally, supports increased farm gate returns and creates local jobs,” he said.
“While live sheep exports have shrunk by $338 million over the past 20 years, our sheep meat exports have grown by over 300% over that same period.
“We are giving certainty to sheep producers and the supply chain by legislating the date, and putting $107 million on the table to enable an orderly and well-planned transition away from the trade.”
Animal welfare advocates have been making the case for decades for ending live animal exports and replacing them with alternatives that are less stressful, and potentially deadly to the animals themselves. Pressure to institute a ban mounted in the last federal election, after a particularly bad couple of years for animal deaths at sea.
Banning live exports was an election promise for the Labor Party, and they have reiterated their intent to slowly wind down the industry a number of times since, much to the ire of some farming groups.
While the export of sheep-based products has continued to grow steadily, live exports make up a dwindling portion of the industry. In 2022-23, more than 650,000 live sheep were exported by sea or air, making up about 1% of Australia’s sheep trade, and about 0.01% of total agricultural exports.
This is to say, live exports have been reliably replaced by domestic processing, which has prevented the sheep sector from suffering an overall decline.
“This support will help it continue to grow, creating more local jobs through increased value adding,” said Watt.
“Transition support is focused on helping affected individuals, businesses and communities to plan for, respond and adjust to the phase-out.
“Importantly, it will be available to help all parts of the sheep industry supply chain, from farmers, to truckies, to shearers and processors.”
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