A new government report on Australia’s regulatory system for live export has revealed damning evidence of major and minor non-compliance issues at seven abattoirs in Indonesia.

The report comes after the Department of Agriculture reviewed a PETA Asia complaint from June 2021 which documented egregious cruelty to Australian cattle within the Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System (ESCAS) – a traceability programme implemented more than a decade ago.

12 Years of ESCAS Failure

ESCAS hasn’t provided “assurance” of any kind.

According to the report, cattle were found to be in abattoirs outside of approved supply chains and a butcher had even “falsified end of life traceability documentation for the cattle so it appeared they had been slaughtered at the approved abattoir”.

There were still inconsistencies in exporter interpretations of ESCAS animal welfare standards (even though they were implemented in 2011), especially regarding procedures by abattoir staff to assess unconsciousness following stunning and verifying death following slaughter.

Not only was non-compliance found at every single abattoir investigated, the assessors ironically ruled that already-implemented training and corrective actions placed on exporter supply chains are “effective”.

ALL Live Export Should Be Banned – and Now!

Meanwhile, the government is collecting submissions on the phase-out of live-sheep exports. But the report is further evidence that officials should be including cattle in its consultation plans.

Cruelty is in every corner of the live-export industry, and after more than a decade of ESCAS, exporters and abattoirs still either don’t understand the regulations or don’t care to follow them because there are no meaningful consequences for non-compliance.

You Have the Power to Stop Cruelty to Animals

Pointless taxpayer-funded reviews of the live-export industry are as useful as a chocolate hairdryer. The government must commit to ending live export for all animals – now.

In the meantime, the Australian public can rise up and demand change by refusing to buy anything made from the body parts of animals.