The debate over live animal exports has been reignited after disturbing footage of Australian animals being brutally slaughtered in the Middle East emerged.
Posted online by Animals Australia, the footage shows Australian sheep and cattle being killed in Gaza, Jordan, Malaysia and Kuwait.
Investigators from the animal welfare group captured footage of animals being stabbed to death while conscious, while others had their throats slit.
Animals are also shown suffering from the heat, struggling against restraints, and being transported in wheelbarrows and the boots of cars.
The footage comes two years after the introduction of the Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System, put in place by the Department of Agriculture to curb the slaughter of Australian cattle in unauthorised abattoirs.
The system, also known as ESCAS, has come under fire from Labor MPs Kelvin Thomson and Jill Hall.
The pair issued a statement saying the footage “makes a laughing stock” of that the ESCAS system is working.
“The ESCAS system is supposed to make exporters accountable for the fate of the animals,” they stated.
“It is doing nothing of the kind. The government is overseeing a regulatory system which is failing in its core mission to protect Australian animals from brutal treatment.”
A spokeswoman for the Australian Livestock Exporters Council said the cruelty shown in the videos was unnecessary and inexcusable.
The Department of Agriculture says it has been investigating the "upsetting" footage and will release a report into its findings and any actions it will take.
"No-one supports animal cruelty, least of all Australian farmers and exporters," it said in a statement on Thursday.
A spokesman for Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce said it was inappropriate to comment before a review into live animal export standards was released.
- with AAP
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