Well, Libs have done a lot of talking and havent delivered.....Moss Review...went nowhere, Lawler Enquiry.....nowhere.....Independent Observer Reports.....sanitised by the governments own department (so.....nowhere)....ASEL Review (a couple of improvements but essentially......went nowhere)...and who knows what they are going to do with the HSRA recommendations? The only real positive has been a decrease in stocking density on May to Oct voyages after the McCarthy Report.
So, what are the ALP promising? Promises are made to be broken...we all know that....but the ALP does actually have an Animal Welfare Plan. For the plan details and comments, see today's article in The Conversation: http://theconversation.com/can-labors-animal-welfare-plan-improve-australias-lacklustre-record-116261
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So here we are. The industry, who has always accused animal welfare groups of not enough science, have now turned the tables. Heat stress science is unarguable, so they are now claiming that animal welfare is not a science. And the 28 wet bulb temperature (WBT) is only a problem in climate controlled rooms but not a problem at all on densely packed ships.
Well, here are the facts and THEY DONT LIE. These are direct screen shots from the Independent Observer notes on the Bader (IO3): yep sheep on a May voyage suffer from heat stress....as predicted! And, surprise surprise, no amount of space makes any difference, just as we have always said (based on SCIENCE). We've seen what happens to our dairy cows when they go to Qatar and now we can see firsthand what happens when they go to Sri Lanka.
And this is clearly a double tragedy - terrible for the people also as is so often the case when poor animal welfare is involved. We have no control over our exported animals but no doubt we will continue doing it. Meanwhile.....instead of quibbling over whether 9 or 10% had died, it would be good PR for Wellard to get themselves over there and sort this mess. Perhaps take a cargo of food over in one of their ships?? Now that would be good use for a live ex ship! The Moss review found that the Department of Agriculture was “unable to report the outcomes of investigations in a timely manner.” The review also highlighted instances where former staff in the animal welfare branch of the Department allegedly had their reports “revised or redrafted to dilute or expunge findings which adversely reflected on the regulatory framework.”
VALE believe that not much has changed - see our new web page and Wendy Laursen's excellent article https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/live-export-following-the-paper-trail This is the question asked by former liver export veterinarian Dr Lynn Simpson in her article in Splash 24/7.
Whilst farmers, cheered up by pathetic DAWR responses think they can hang on...apparently no-one has told them that some of the ships wont even be able to sail from 1st Jan 2020. 40 weeks to go and counting. If only the Australian government would stop counting votes and actually consider the big picture with honesty, information and transparency, then both Australian animals and Australian farmers would be better off. For the period June to August, "the department will not grant export permits after 31 May 2019"
Yes that is right. The DAWR has confirmed that they will approve exports to the Middle East right up to 31 May 2019 which means that they can approve voyages extending into June or even July (if voyage is to Turkey). Astounding really that the industry have self-imposed a ban from June to August and that the government's position is even weaker than that of industry. Its pathetic what an election will do. After the DAWR published the first IO Summary detailing heat stress on the Bahijah, the two words "heat stress" in lower case were never again included on an IO Summary.
Yep.....Moss Review over, the lack of transparency and the cover up continues. Check out VALE's latest web page for the Official Independent Observer Summaries, any available FOI data for each voyage and VALE's analysis of each of these independently observed voyages: www.vale.org.au/independent-observer-reports.html DAWR has covered up and in doing so has deceived the government which has now allowed voyages to the Middle East in May. This despite the fact that the one voyage that went very close to the mortality limit (0.98%!) was in May and that animals on some voyages (including pastoral cattle) suffered and died from heat stress. Will we bother submitting our comment to government...unlikely as it is a waste of time but we will continue to let veterinarians and the public know what is really happening and what DAWR are hiding. The Australian Government yesterday announced that it intends to ban live export of sheep to the ME between June and August (oh, well done – the industry already had a self-imposed ban) but they would continue with decreased stocking density and independent observers.
In this totally farcical move, the Australian Government has ignored the recommendations of the McCarthy Review and all but one (the recommendation to monitor data!) of the recommendations of the Draft Report of their own Technical Representative Panel on Heat Stress Risk Assessment. In addition, they have carefully ignored all the heat stress reports by those independent observers from 2018, probably in line with their careful sanitisation of the Independent Observer summaries which effectively removed any mention of heat stress e.g. for the May voyages. (See http://www.vale.org.au/independent-observer-reports.html) What an extraordinary waste of time and money to achieve nothing at all. Keep holding out, Independent Observer 7, whoever you are (http://www.vale.org.au/independent-observer-reports.html). Don't let them sanitise your report with 0.98% mortality for one sheep consignment, discrepant sheep numbers, sheep being left without food and water etc.) 'The department has failed as a regulator.' This is the beginning of the draft report provided to the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources on 17 December 2018. Ten days later, when the final version was released by the minister, those words had been removed. How could this happen in an independent review of a Dept? How could the Dept have been allowed to influence an independent review into THEIR behaviour and capability?
Was Moss forced to make this concession, despite the fact that the final version still stated "On occasions, in our view, reportable mortality reports were revised or redrafted to dilute or expunge findings which adversely reflected on the regulatory framework.”? Now Latika Bourke from SMH reports that a Department of Agriculture officer suspected of falsifying at least one report of deaths on a live export ship will not be investigated after the government's review into potential corruption inside the department stalled. What is not stated is the fact that the Lawler Inquiry which was supposed to interview past and present employees of DAWR (“I plead with anyone who has been in the animal welfare branch to come forward and give evidence so I can clean this culture up,” the minister said.) refused to interview past employees...despite the pleading from at least one those former employees. The one thing for sure is that no-one is in any doubt that DAWR failed as a regulator due to incompetence, culture AND corruption as VALE has always maintained. The very astute Mehreen Faruqi, is all over this and not likely to let up. NOTE 1: DAWR are still officially clinging to their 2.51% mortality on the Al Messilah (Report 65) which had a 4.36% mortality voyage, even to the extent that independent observer reports contain that figure (with a comment about a number of unexplained losses!) and the parliamentary report has remained unchanged despite the revision of the original mortality investigation report that occurred after VALE's challenge. NOTE 2: the culture in the DAWR has changed not one iota since the Moss Inquiry - reasonable FOI requests still blocked as per usual and VALE has noted the sanitisation of the Independent Observer Report Summaries. So...whilst a whistleblower pulled a swifty...on 5 voyages...where were the vets and stockmen?25/1/2019 Well the live ex news has done nothing last week but blacken yet another whistleblower....nothing new there...think Tony Hill, Lynn Simpson etc.
But really.....that this guy, a naval training officer (not someone that would be loading cattle, that he is alleged to have abused.. for a voyage to Malaysia!!) would be able to stage heat stress events on all decks on 5 voyages under the watchful eyes of Australian stockmen and vets beggars all belief. Industry want us to believe that the footage was taken when the allegedly paid whistleblower turned off ventilation to stage a disaster. Hang on....the official government investigation report into high mortality Voyage 69 (the 8th heat stress disaster in 8 years) states the following (bolding from VALE): "The AAV recorded moderate heat stress was evident in some areas from day 5 till day 13 of the voyage.... On day 14 the AAV reported sheep with severe heat stress in some areas of the vessel as the ship was underway to Qatar. The vessel arrived in Qatar late on day 14. On that night and the following night, the AAV reported that temperatures reached 36 degrees Celsius dry bulb and 35 degrees Celsius wet bulb with 94 per cent humidity. These extreme conditions lasted for approximately 5 to 6 hours each night. The AAV also noted that when these extreme conditions are encountered, large numbers of animals will to start to die. There were 880 recorded on day 15 and 517 mortalities recorded on day 16, all attributed to heat stress. The mortalities reached reportable level of 2 per cent on day 16 with 2.66 per cent cumulative total recorded on that day. When high heat and humidity started to affect sheep, individual animals identified as heat affected or bogged were removed into alleyways and placed near ventilators [go figure ...they must have been working] and provided water.... The AAV recorded that ventilation was working, however it can only deliver the outside air conditions to the decks. And the report goes on to detail the decks affected : 8/10 decks with mortality over 2%....oh yeah thats right, this super clever Pakistani must have disabled ventilation to 8/10 decks.....for 11 days.....without anyone noticing (and without any loss of power for lighting for his footage). The lengths that this industry will go to, to cast mud on the truth is nothing short of extraordinary. |
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