Call for end to live meat exports

PAGE MP Janelle Saffin plans once again to speak out against the live export of cattle and sheep from Australia, when Federal Parliament resumes next week.

In March 2011, Ms Saffin introduced a Private Members Bill to Parliament calling for an end to the trade. Two months later, an ABC-TV Four Corners program showed graphic pictures of Australian live cattle suffering shocking abuse in Indonesia.

Media reports earlier this week of live Australian sheep exported to Pakistan being buried alive or bludgeoned to death led to Ms Saffin speaking to national media on the issue again, after she'd received a flood of emails and phone calls from her constituents.

As the Department of Agriculture invesitigated allegations the sheep were mistreated, Ms Saffin told ABC Radio that she and many of her colleagues want the trade to end.

"People are horrified by graphic reports of the treatment of a shipment of Australian sheep in Pakistan," Ms Saffin said.

A rally in support of Ms Saffin's call for a ban to live exports is being held this Friday, October 5, outside her office on Molesworth Street, Lismore.