Suspend live export scheme: WA farmer

A PROMINENT West Australian farmer wants the federal government to suspend its live export supply chain system, saying it has damaged relationships with key markets and threatens to cause an animal welfare disaster in Australia.

Saudi Arabia's agriculture minister Fahad Balghunaim said last week during a visit to Perth that the key Middle Eastern export market would remain closed while the Exporter Supply Chain Assurance Scheme (ESCAS) remained in place.

The scheme places responsibility for the animals' welfare on Australian exporters, right up until the point of slaughter - and has closed doors in Saudi Arabia.

WA Farmers member and its former president Trevor De Landgrafft said the intent of ESCAS, to protect exported livestock, was admirable but it had offended the Saudis considerably.

"ESCAS has smashed our trade as farmers," Mr De Landgrafft told AAP.

"You can't tell a customer what to do."

Mr De Landgrafft said WA farmers were now stuck with too many sheep that the domestic market could not absorb, while the Saudis were doing everything they could to avoid buying Australian livestock, instead turning to north Africa.

"The Middle Eastern states have got money and they are apparently prepared to pay even more so they don't have to trade with Australia," he said.

A spokeswoman for federal Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig said he held talks with his Saudi counterpart last week, which was a step in the right direction.

"Both Saudi and Australia support high standards of animal welfare and our aim is to ensure that is reflected in the trade," she said.

The federal government was committed to the livestock export trade, which would be made more sustainable through ESCAS, the spokeswoman said.

But Mr De Landgrafft said livestock producers probably needed to protest more about the scheme, as they were "going to go to the wall".

"We're going to end up with a livestock welfare issue because we can't get rid of all the animals," he said.

Mr De Landgrafft said it was reasonable that the federal government wanted trading partners to improve their animal welfare practices but this needed to be done over time and with Australia providing assistance.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard will be confronted by both sides of the live export debate outside a community cabinet in the Perth suburb of Thornlie on Wednesday night.

Boyup Brook farmer and Save Live Exports group member Gemma Lee-Steere says she will hand a submission to Ms Gillard.

Stop Live Exports will also attend.

The last time the groups crossed paths, the animal welfare advocates said they were pelted with eggs.

They say they're not calling for an immediate end to the trade, as this would cause economic hardship to farmers. Instead they want it phased out over years, to be replaced with processing in Australia.

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