WESTERN Australian lobby group Keep the Sheep has brazenly asked Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to reverse the phaseout of live sheep exports by sea.

Keep the Sheep spokesperson Ben Sutherland today released a letter asking Mr Albanese to reverse the trade ban, scheduled to come into effect on 1 May 2028, before the next federal election.

“It takes courage to admit you have been misled and that you have got it wrong.

“Please do the right thing for WA; repeal the ban, listen to the farmers that feed and clothe Australia and the world,” Mr Sutherland writes in the letter.

The letter also indicated Keep the Sheep will be urging WA voters to ‘put Labor last’ on federal seat voting ballot papers. The tradition of House of Representative and half-Senate elections to be held together and procedural factors favour a federal election being held before 17 May 2025.

In the letter, Mr Sutherland accuses Mr Albanese of choosing “to support extreme interstate activists over hard-working Western Australian farmers and regional communities.

“Proponents of a campaign supporting your ban have links to extreme vegan activists,” he said.

“Groups that illegally trespass onto agricultural properties, harass farmers, break into abattoirs and disrupt supply chains forcing up the cost of living up for the average family.”

Keep the Sheep spokesman Ben Sutherland

Mr Sutherland said farmers in WA are suffering in the Albanese Government’s hands, with the WA sheep flock declining by 25pc in 2024, two major abattoirs closing and wool production in WA at its lowest since the 1920’s due to the flock liquidation. Shearers, the catalyst of the Labor movement, are reporting their businesses have dropped by 30pc in the last 12 months, Mr Sutherland said.

“The reason for these outcomes is simple, a viable WA sheep industry needs competition from three markets – meat processing, wool production and live exports.

“You take one of these away then the viability of sheep production in WA is damaged and all three of these industries suffer the dire consequences of your policy.”

Mr Sutherland reiterated that Keep the Sheep believed the government’s transition package of $139 million barely scratches the surface of the economic loss of this ban.

“The WA Government has said the transition would take at least 10 years with $1.2 billion assistance.

“Good governments do not shut down industries that support regional businesses and communities – no matter how small you may consider them – for political purposes.”

Mr Sutherland said Keep the Sheep has hundreds of volunteers ready to deliver a simple message to key electorates in WA – ‘The Albanese Government is hurting WA farmers and their communities: Put Labor last.’

Pressure is on WA Premier to support Keep the Sheep

Australian Livestock Exporters’ Council chief executive Mark Harvey-Sutton said he expected the live sheep trade phaseout would also be an issue in the next WA election scheduled for 8 March.

“I think it will be incumbent on the WA Premier Mr Cook and the Minister for Agriculture Jackie Jarvis to demonstrate how they have stood up for WA farmers.

“They’ve consistently been on the record as saying they oppose the ban and this election presents an opportunity for them to actually stand up for WA producers,” he said.

“The Premier has shown that he wields significant influence federally by recently killing off the Nature Positive law.

“The question we have for the Premier is: Will you do the same for live sheep?”

“The Federal Government has had every opportunity to listen, but even the current (transition) workshops in Western Australia show that they have no intention whatsoever of listening to the WA sheep industry,” Mr Harvey-Sutton said.

“The campaigners and supporter of Keep the Sheep have no other choice than to recommend an alternative.”

Mr Harvey-Sutton said the transition workshops being held in WA have been by invitation-only and was why ALEC had opted not to participate in the transition co-design process.

“It’s just a simple hatchet job from the Federal Government to feign consultation when all the information has previously been provided in previous processes and they have no intention of listening whatsoever.”