A ship carrying almost 17,000 sheep and cattle is expected to be unloaded at Fremantle dock in the middle of a severe heatwave as exporters continue their fight to ship the animals to Israel.
For more than a month, the 15,000 sheep and 1,750 cattle have remained on board the Israeli-owned MV Bahijah after it aborted entering the Red Sea on its way to Israel for fear of attack by Houthi rebels.
It set sail on 5 January but 15 days later was ordered to return to Western Australia by government officials.
A bid to re-export the animals from Fremantle back to the Middle East, on a journey that would avoid the Red Sea but take nearly twice as long, was denied on Monday night by the federal Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.
It was expected the MV Bahijah would be able to unload the livestock on Thursday as the exporters apply – for the third time – for a permit to sail to Israel. The complicated regulatory saga has concerned welfare groups and the farming industry.
“I believe it [the decision] was based on an action by the animal rights movement in Israel to not allow the ship to unload once it got there,” said John Hassell, president of the WA Farmers Federation, Australia’s largest farm lobby group.
“Why are Australian government officials making a decision about a protest that is happening over in Israel?”
The regulator said that it was not satisfied “the importing country requirements relating to the livestock have been met” or that the arrangements for transport were appropriate to protect the health and welfare of the animals.
On 2 February, Israeli animal rights groups Let the Animals Live and Animals Now filed legal proceedings against its agriculture ministry, seeking an injunction to prevent the Bahijah livestock from being imported. That case is yet to be heard.
While the Australian farming industry has lambasted the federal department about the 10 days it took to refuse the re-export application, the government blamed the exporters.
It was unclear if the Australian export licence holders were exporting as T&T Rural Contracting or working under Bassem Dabbah Livestock Aus Pty Ltd.
An Asic search showed the directors of Bassem Dabbah Livestock were the Dabbah family, who own large slaughterhouses across Israel, one of which was the subject of a 2015 inquiry into horrific abuse on Australian cattle.
On Tuesday, the federal agriculture minister, Murray Watt, told a press conference that it took the exporter nearly 10 days to present a proposal to the department for consideration.
“Now the responsibility under the legislation rests with the exporter about what they should do with those animals,” he said. “It is a commercial decision for them.”
In the meantime, the Bahijah and its live cargo are stuck in limbo off the coast of Perth as a heatwave bears down on the city with consecutive 42C days forecast. The Bahijah crew must wait for another live export ship – the Al-Messiah, destined for the Persian Gulf – to be fully loaded before taking its berth on the dock.
The WA Farmers Livestock Council president, Geoff Pearson, said that he was working with Michalek and Grant to prepare 15,000 sheep and 1,750 cattle for re-export once onshore.
Last Friday, a further 750 cattle were removed from the ship and taken to quarantine facilities north of Perth.
He said the plan was to bring the remaining animals onshore on Thursday, where they can rest in quarantine facilities for at least 10 days as new export permit applications were considered.
“This is affecting everyone, the exporter, the licence holder, registered establishments, it is affecting industry,” Pearson said. “There are shipments in limbo for Israel, including the existing one.”
If the export permit is again refused, the animals will have to be slaughtered.
Live export in WA is normally a one-way street. Animals move from paddock to ship up until June, when the practice is prohibited to protect the animals from being shipped during northern hemisphere summer heat.
Hassell said that onshore “processing facilities”, where the livestock are stunned and killed, do not have the capacity to deal with an unexpected influx of animals.
“It [the rejection] has cost the industry reputation unfortunately, and it has cost the Israeli exporter/importers a huge amount of money,” he said.
A specialist veterinarian and spokeswoman for Vets Against Live Export, Sue Foster, said she was dismayed that the animals might have to suffer another journey.
“It is outrageous that anyone in the livestock industry would consider re-exporting animals that have already endured such prolonged and cumulative transport stresses,” Foster said.
“The government made an election promise to phase out the live export of sheep. Why hasn’t the phase-out started?”
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, refused to answer questions on the phase out issue, instead referring questions to his minister.
Watt said the government was still considering an independent report on phasing out the live export of sheep.
“I have already publicly committed to release the report once the government has reached a decision and that commitment stands.”
