PRESS RELEASE: LIVE SHEEP EXPORT BAN: ‘WE’RE BEING USED AS SACRIFICIAL LAMBS’

MEDIA STATEMENT
For Immediate Release
16 May 2024

LIVE SHEEP EXPORT BAN:
‘WE’RE BEING USED AS SACRIFICIAL LAMBS’
SAYS MARTIN MOSES, CEO MOSES & SON.

The government’s plan to ban live exports by sea by 2028 is poised to unleash a ripple effect that could devastate numerous regional communities. This move threatens to dismantle generations of hard work for some families and is poised to compound the challenges faced by the already struggling economy.

This decision proves that the government is completely out of touch with its regional constituents and has abandoned us – again. They are using us as a sacrificial lamb to meet their carbon emission targets.

This isn’t about farmers playing the victim; it’s about farmers saying “enough.” We have been disregarded for too long, and it isn’t just our industry. It is every Australian farmer who has ever poured their heart and soul into what they love, often with meagre returns. We frequently find ourselves having to push back against decisions and opinions from powerful figures who lack real insight.

By bowing down to activists and inner-city voters who are completely out of touch with the highly regulated and science-backed industry, we are destroying the very backbone of our country.
Without a Government that collaborates with the agricultural sector, Australia may see a mass exodus of producers. Many farmers will walk off the land. What then?

While Agriculture Minister Murray Watt says their $107 million transition package will provide adequate assistance, we say this is setting a dangerous precedent for all farming – not just for the sheep industry.

Industry leaders this week walked out of the Croplife Ag Industry breakfast, signalling widespread disapproval of the decision. So why is the government pushing to cripple an industry? It isn’t just sheep farmers who will bear the brunt. It is truck drivers, shearers and other workers of the supply chain that will be affected. Where is their compensation?

The government is setting the values of our industry to achieve without any consultation. We are being used as pawns. What do we need to do to be heard? Pull up our tractors to Parliament House like our European counterparts?

Predictions are we will see dangerous drops in sheep numbers and wool production. So why would we want to be part of an industry that is intentionally being wound down? We can’t see light at the end of the tunnel, and the resilience that we are known for is waning. Farming may become too difficult.

It is time the government wake up and realises how much this country relies on farmers for the food on their tables, the clothes on their backs, and the significant contribution we make to the country’s economy.

Rather than criticising and destroying a sector they clearly know nothing about, I personally invite any politician to come to our region and meet with our sheep producers and other farmers to witness our welfare practices and to see how much actual science is behind our enterprises.

Without farmers, Australia will fall, and we will fall hard.

And it will not be without warning.

Australian farmers have had enough.

FOR MEDIA ENQUIRIES: Please contact Martin Moses, CEO of Moses & Son on 02 6977 3100 or email [email protected]

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