Convoy of trucks live export ban of major Perth roads

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A convoy of trucks disrupted peak hour traffic in Perth this morning. It was part of the `keep the sheep' protest movement, to draw attention to the federal government's phase-out of live sheep exports under legislation passed last year.

Transcript

00:00We've seen dozens of utes and trucks travelling along this freeway today.

00:06They are just one of four convoys that were organised by the Keep the Sheep campaigners

00:12who were travelling north, south, east and west around the city displaying their campaign

00:17messages and they were aiming for maximum impact travelling through peak hour traffic.

00:22They didn't cause chaos, there was definitely disruption by the sheer numbers of people

00:27that were travelling along the freeway.

00:29And this has all come about because the Federal Labor Government announced last year that

00:33the live sheep export industry would end in May 2028.

00:38The Government set aside $140 million towards a transition to chilled or boxed meats but

00:45the industry says this isn't enough and they've been campaigning ever since.

00:49This has been shaping up to be a big election issue in WA because we have a huge live export

00:54industry here, particularly in our regional and rural communities and today we saw many

01:00utes and trucks displaying signs that said stand with our rural communities.

01:05The people that are in this industry say that it's the backbone of their communities, they've

01:10been doing it for over 100 years so making this change is going to have a huge impact

01:15on them and their communities as well.

01:18And they say that by making this change they won't be creating a demand for chilled or

01:23boxed meats.

01:25The partnerships that they have, they think those countries are now going to look elsewhere

01:29for the live sheep exports and possibly to countries that don't have high animal welfare

01:35standards or as high as we do in Australia.

01:39So they are pushing to continue with live sheep exports.

01:43And today we also had a peaceful counter protest in the CBD for people that do want this ban

01:52to come into place because they say that it's a cruel trade.

01:56It's a peaceful protest but they are supporting the decision that the Albanese government

02:01has made.

02:03The Keep the Sheep campaigners are going to continue campaigning, they're heading to a

02:08town called Whitby today which is about an hour away, they're holding a barbecue and

02:12they're going to discuss the next steps of their campaign which should be imminent given

02:16we now know the federal election has been called on May the 3rd.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended