Australians' strong concerns about animal welfare put us at odds with Asian live export markets; but sharing our food production technologies gives us a potential advantage.
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AUSTRALIA IN THE ASIAN CENTURY – A series examining Australia’s role in the rapidly transforming Asian region. Delivered in partnership with the Australian government.
Today, Professor Clive Phillips…
Why do we care so much about the origin of brutalised cows?
librarianidol/Flickr
New footage recently aired on ABC has again brought to our attention the plight of cattle in Indonesian abattoirs. Scenes of cattle being poked, stabbed, and slaughtered without appropriate equipment has…
Our conduct has damaged relations with Indonesia and has serious implications for the environment.
AAP
Indonesia’s decision to cut live cattle imports from Australia is the clearest example yet of the significant and long-lasting damage that June’s export ban did to relations with our nearest neighbour…
Beef processing contributed to Cargill's $US2.7 billion in earnings this year.
AAP
Welcome to “The most powerful companies you’ve never heard of” – an ongoing series from The Conversation that sheds light on big companies with low profiles. Today, The University of Queensland’s Clive…
On Thursday August 18, two bills were introduced in the Australian House of Representatives.
One was the “Live Animal Export Restriction and Prohibition Bill 2011”, introduced by Independent Member for…
The law treats animals as merely "property" – but is this out of step with community expectations?
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Last week’s resounding defeat of two private members bills seeking to end live animal exports demonstrates the myopic vision Australian politicians have for the country’s agricultural industry.
This is…
Welfare standards adopted as part of the ban being lifted fall short of public expectations.
AAP
When it comes to the live animal export industry, the government’s knee-jerk reactions leave it open to criticism that it dances to whichever group, industry or the animal activists, plays the loudest…
Australians don't know enough about Indonesia to judge its farming practices.
AFP/Sonny Tumbelaka
We need to learn more about the countries we are exporting livestock to, or swapping refugees with. Two recent publicly-funded television documentaries have revealed just how little most Australians know…
So-called "humane" industry slaughter practices need to be investigated more carefully.
AAP
One of the more welcome results from the furore around Australia’s involvement in live animal exports is that some Australians appear to have started rethinking their food choices.
Last month, The Age…
20% of people who saw the footage of animal abuse thought it was too graphic.
AFP/Ho/ABC/Four Corners
The decision by Animals Australia/RSPCA to allow their footage of slaughter of cattle and sheep overseas raises interesting questions about how animal welfare should be managed in this country.
Was it…
Can trade regulation enhance - or block - improvements to animal welfare?
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The suspension of live cattle exports to Indonesia will also have significant implications on Australian cattle farmers, Australian and Indonesian domestic markets, and on the trade relationship between…
Livestock may also face mistreatment without leaving Australian shores.
AAP
Throughout the heated debate around live animal exports over the past week, there has been an implicit assumption that the mistreatment of Australian cattle only ever begins after the animals have left…
It may be "humane", but is it ethical?
Virginia Zuluaga/Flickr
Does a painless death harm an animal? Is it wrong to painlessly kill an animal?
These questions go to heart of the ethics of meat eating and humane slaughter, yet they have been largely absent in most…
Before blaming Indonesia, we must reform the way we fund livestock industry research.
AFP Photo/SUTANTA
Now that the Federal Government has finally succumbed to public pressure and suspended live cattle exports to Indonesia, it is worth considering why we were so caught off guard by the shocking revelations…
Indonesian abattoirs should agree to stun cows before they're slaughtered.
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The Federal Government’s move to ban live cattle exports to a handful of Indonesian abattoirs will not, in the long term, end the inhumane slaughtering practices revealed in Monday’s Four Corners report…
The trip to Indonesia is just the start of a horrifying journey for cattle.
AAP
Last night, the ABC’s Four Corners brought the horror of the Indonesian slaughterhouse into Australian living rooms.
The government’s response to images of cattle being hacked to death, having their tails…
