Almost half the live export ships that sailed from Australia without an independent observer claimed there was “insufficient space” to allow them onboard last year, new data shows.
The independent monitoring scheme established in 2018 after 2,400 sheep died while being exported by Australian exporter Emanuel Exports has weakened considerably since its resumption from a Covid-related pause, data shows.
Data presented to Senate estimates last week showed independent observers boarded just 11 of 78 eligible live export voyages between May and the end of December last year. That is despite the government clearly telling vessel operators to expect observers on any eligible voyages.
In 33 of the 67 eligible voyages that did not take observers, vessel operators told the government they simply didn’t have sufficient space on board for an extra person. Where operators claim insufficient space, they must provide the government with a statutory declaration supporting their case. The agriculture department would not say how many statutory declarations it had received from vessel operators.
A spokesperson told the Guardian that the government did not want to displace existing crew on live export ships.
“Each vessel has limited accommodation and it’s not the intent of the policy to displace crew that might be needed for the operation of the voyage and day-to-day management of the livestock,” a spokesperson said.
In Senate estimates last week, the department said it was investigating whether there was a “pattern” about why there was not enough space for observers on live export ships.
Observers were also kept off 20 eligible ships heading to China due to the country’s Covid restrictions last year. Another 13 voyages left with too short notice for an observer to accompany them.
The Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi said the “live export industry is obviously taking the government for a ride”.
“Both the government and the live export industry are to blame for the utter decimation of the independent observer program,” she said.
“The government clearly has little interest in ensuring proper transparency on live export ships, and has even resisted publishing reports from the few voyages that do have observers.”
The previous government introduced a requirement that observers board live export ships in April 2018. That followed the release of whistleblower footage from a ship taking sheep from Australia to the Middle East, which showed the animals in extreme heat stress. The then agriculture minister David Littleproud described the footage as “very disturbing”.
The observers produce reports on deaths and conditions, which are meant to be published regularly. But the department has also faced criticism over its failure to upload the reports for lengthy periods.
In December, the Guardian reported that no reports had been published for more than two years, since June 2020.
Immediately following the Guardian’s article, the department uploaded three reports. Another two were handed to Faruqi last week after an order for production of documents passed the Senate.
“Why does it take adverse media reporting or a Senate order to get these documents published? What is the resistance to transparency?” Faruqi asked in Senate estimates last week.
Matthew Koval, the acting deputy secretary for the department, said the publication of the reports following the Guardian article was “coincidental”.
“We had actually planned to publish them,” he said. “What we’re trying to do is to move to a regular publishing timeframe, so we publish everything on a regular cycle.”
