My talk at Stop Live Export Rally

31 January 2024

Thanks for showing your support to end live sheep exports by sea.

The MV Bahijah has been at sea for 25 days since being ordered by the Department to turn back to Fremantle with 15,000 sheep and about 2000 cattle on board.

Today is 35 degrees and tomorrow 40 degrees with a heat wave for the rest of the week –

There is no humane option for the sheep on the MV Bahijah but for them to be returned to land, the Cook government must immediately support this step.

Instead, Roger Cook and Jackie Jarvis have sadly been supporting the continuation of live exports. The WA Government must take the federal government’s lead and commit to banning live exports – it is extremely disappointing that the Cook government continues to support live exports. We need WA to stop slowing down the Feds.

The WA Greens, alongside the Australian Greens, want to see an end to all live animal exports from Australia – Western Australia is the worst offenders when it comes to this inhumane practice. The Australian Greens Animal Welfare spokesperson Senator Mehreen Faruqi is calling on the Government to step in and stop all live export trade through conflict zones immediately:

“The situation with the MV Bahijah is just awful. Sending a ship full of thousands of sheep and cattle through such risky conditions defies all logic. This ship should never have been allowed to depart the shores of Western Australia.

“The government must step in right away and completely ban all voyages in and around conflict zones, until live sheep export is banned altogether.

“Further increasing the suffering of animals on live export ships by sending them through conflict zones, where they face longer and even more dangerous journeys, is beyond cruel.

We must remind Anthony Albanese that his decision to end the cruel trade has majority support.

Live exports must end.