Australian sheep are being sold in a "notoriously cruel" Kuwait market, an animal welfare group claims, as the federal government concedes 450 have "leaked" from the regulated supply chain.
Animals Australia has lodged its sixth complaint with the Department of Agriculture in relation to illegal sales at the "banned" market, which operates outside of Australia's official exporter supply chain.
Chief investigator Lyn White said the animals would be "tied up and shoved into car boots in 50 degree temperatures before being brutally slaughtered".
But a spokeswoman for Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce says the government doesn't have the power to compel an exporter to buy back animals from overseas markets that had been "legally sold to a third party".
"Even if we did have the powers, such an approach is likely to be counter-productive," she said.
"Market traders are likely to acquire more Australian sheep if they know there is a steady profit to be made by selling them back to Australian exporters.
"The department's resources are best employed in tracing back the leakages to the source and addressing the causes rather than encouraging a black market to grow."
The spokesman said the latest complaint only involved 450 sheep, down on up to 10,000 animals that have been the source of complaints in previous years.
Independent MP Andrew Wilkie says the government continued to turn a blind eye to live export breaches.
