The federal government has moved to suspend live animal exports to a number of killing facilities in Indonesia.
Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig said the decision was based on footage collected by Animals Australia that showed cattle being mistreated before slaughter.
The ABC's Four Corners aired the footage in a deeply disturbing report that showed animals dying prolonged deaths and being beaten and gouged.
"I have decided to halt the trade of live animals to the facilities identified by the footage," he said in a statement on Tuesday.
The minister said he had asked Australian officials to prepare orders that would enforce the complete suspension of live animal exports to the facilities identified by Animals Australia.
"These orders will strengthen the decision I took yesterday to conduct a full investigation into the footage provided," Senator Ludwig said.
INDEPENDENT REVIEW
The government also has appointed an independent reviewer to investigate the complete supply chain for live exports up to and including the point of slaughter.
Senator Ludwig said he reserved the right to add further Indonesian facilities to the banned list, if required.
The footage, aired on the ABC's Four Corners program on Monday night, shows cattle dying prolonged deaths and being beaten and gouged.
About 80 per cent of Australia's live cattle exports go to Indonesia, with the broader live animal industry worth about $2 billion a year and employing 13,000 Australians.
TOTAL BAN DEMANDED
The Australian Greens and independent MPs have called on the government to ban immediately all live exports to Indonesia.
"This trade needs to stop," Greens senator Rachael Siewert told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.
The coalition has offered bipartisan support for a review of the live cattle export industry, but stopped short of advocating a complete ban.
Nationals leader Warren Truss, who as a Howard government minister faced similar issues, said most people would be shocked and dismayed by the footage.
But while he supported a suspension of sending Australian cattle to sub-standard abattoirs, it was not appropriate to impose a blanket ban.
"This kind of unsatisfactory behaviour has to end," Mr Truss told reporters.
"We support actions of the minister of seeking an early response to these issues, in particular Australian cattle should not be going to abattoirs where practices are not of an appropriate standard."
The use of "stunning facilities" had improved the standard of large abattoirs in Indonesia, and these needed to be more widely used.
"We ought to be using foreign aid and other resources to upgrade Indonesian abattoirs so that only acceptable animal welfare standards and killing practices are adopted for Australian cattle."
Mr Truss said it was not possible to shut down the live industry.
"It would be nice if we could do that but what you need to appreciate is that there are no abattoirs in northern Australia that have any kind of export capability," he said.
NORTHERN AUSTRALIA
It was not economically viable to operate an export abattoir in northern Australia because of the impact of the wet season, and the expense and lack of availability of labour.
The RSPCA also called for immediate action.
"We cannot allow Australian cattle to be treated in this way night after night in Indonesian abattoirs," the organisation's chief scientist Bidda Jones told reporters.
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