The clock is ticking on the future of the live sheep export trade, all the while a human welfare issue is brewing.
Far and beyond the 'sentiment nosedive' recorded earlier in the year, ongoing uncertainty around the federal government’s impending phase out of the trade is taking a huge toll on sheepmeat producers.
WA Shearing Industry Association president Darren Spencer said many producers were 'quite stressed' and just don't know where to go from here.
"There's been so much stress with people trying to get rid of sheep; we've still got over a million extra sheep here in WA that we can't get rid of," he said.
"People are also very stressed about whether they are actually going to mate again next year because they've got all these extra sheep on farm.
"[Government] need to look at it that it’s going to be a human welfare issue, not an animal welfare issue; that’s what they’re brewing."
This was one of many consequences laid bare to politicians in Canberra this week, as a delegation of West Australian farmers and industry representatives set out to speak directly to the nation's decision-makers.
“We wanted to make sure politicians from across Australia understand that when they talk about phasing out live sheep exports, they risk phasing out whole towns,” Mr Spencer said.
“The live sheep export industry is concentrated in Western Australia and employs farmers, shearers, truck drivers and livestock agents, which means it supports families, small schools, entire communities, and the towns they live in.
"Phasing out live export really will phase out whole towns.”
While these consequences, and a host of others, have already been made clear to the consultation panel responsible for advising government on how best to phase out the trade, faith in the process was limited.
"None of the people on the panel knew what it was going to do to communities, and they were quite shocked as to the depth of what this ban would do to all the communities in WA," Mr Spencer said.
"It was a flawed process because they should have done [the consultation] before they announced the ban."
With very little time remaining until the consultation panel delivers its report to the government (due by September 30), the activist side of the debate has upped the ante.
Last week, Animals Australia shared footage of Australian sheep allegedly being treated cruelly in Oman, and called for the phase-out to be legislated during this term of parliament.
Meanwhile, this week saw WA Labor MP Josh Wilson table a petition that asked the House of Representatives "to legislate the date, within the 47th Parliament, to phase out live sheep export from Australia by sea within the shortest possible timeframe".
The RSPCA petition attracted signatures from 43,758 citizens, representing 0.16% of the population (based on ABS population data from December 31, 2022).
"It is completely understandable that the Australian community is now calling for certainty when it comes to how and when this cruel and out-of-date industry will cease," Mr Wilson said.
"Having campaigned with my community and worked consistently in this place to see the back of a marginal trade that involves acute and endemic animal welfare failure, I absolutely support that call."
The issue was a hot topic in both chambers early in the week, with Liberal Senator Slade Brockman calling on the federal government to rethink the phase-out.
"There's a shadow hanging over the agricultural industry, particularly in my home state of Western Australia," Mr Brockman said.
"A recent survey right across Australia found that in the east the most important things happening to farmers were global economic conditions and the weather.
"In the west... the most serious consideration they had on their agenda was state and federal Labor government policies.
"One, in particular, will have devastating consequences for my home state of Western Australia and especially the agricultural industry. That is the government's policy to ban the export of live sheep."
Mr Brockman told the Senate the flow-on effects of the ban in WA would be "extraordinary".
"It's not based on any science. It's not based on any evidence," he said.
"In fact, it's based on a set of circumstances from five-and-a-half or six years ago, which have been shown to be highly dubious and which the industry has responded to magnificently.
"The industry has responded - why won't the government?"
