Farming groups are ramping up calls to abandon plans for phasing out live sheep exports.
State and federal agriculture ministers will on Friday meet virtually with the staged closure of live exports continuing to pose issues for governments.
West Australian Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis remains opposed to the ban, and has described the dramatic drop in sheep prices and upcoming policy change as a “perfect storm”.
Federal Labor pledged at the 2019 and 2022 elections to end the trade, but the Albanese government has consistently said it will not happen this term to allow the industry a smooth transition.
Ms Jarvis on Tuesday met with WA farmers including live sheep exporters for a roundtable discussion of the proposed ban.
Talk focused on how the phase-out could be delayed for at least another decade, until the industry can find an alternative market to live exports.
Sheep prices have dropped by about 40 per cent since the beginning of the year and producers have linked the falls to the policy change.
Ms Jarvis will provide an update on the challenging market when the ministers meet on Friday.
“Agriculture ministers’ meetings are a useful forum to discuss nationwide issues,” she told AAP.
WA Farmers’ Trevor Whittington says the federal government declaring it will end live sheep exports is already having an impact with some boats now not coming to Australia.
“They’ve left the industry in the lurch as we go into a drought because we don’t have a domestic market,” he told AAP.
Mr Whittington says there’s been a rush to offload sheep at low prices.
“Farmers are taking as low as a dollar a head in the saleyards rather than pay a dollar a day to feedlot sheep in the hope that the traders can find boats to live export them out,” he said.
NSW Farmers also wants its state agriculture minister Tara Moriarty to raise the issue of live exports at the ministers meeting.
“We would hope to see the agriculture minister consider opportunities to use live exports by sea to support farmers and to uphold animal welfare with the current market and drying conditions,” a spokesperson for the group said.
The federal government is expecting a report from an independent panel set up to deliver the phase-out of live sheep exports by sea at the end of October.