Even if the markets for our sheep did start importing meat rather than live animals, odds are they wouldn’t buy it from Australia. We are a high cost source, and these markets need low cost meat.
Our livestock export industry not only provides affordable protein to some of the world’s poorest people; it also provides Australians with 13,000 jobs, including 11,000 in rural areas. In parts of Western Australia, the industry can form the entire backbone of a community.
I am a former veterinarian, which means I know a few things about animal welfare. This debate about live exports is not about animal welfare.
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It’s about racists who want to tell brown people in other countries how to live.
It’s about arrogant people who assume people in other countries will obtain refrigerators and buy their meat already killed and packaged, just like they do.
It’s about cultural imperialists, who have no respect for cultures that involve eating freshly killed sheep during religious festivals, even if they own refrigerators.
If it was about animal welfare, we would be increasing our exports of live sheep.
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