THE Land reports that the ban on sending Australian cattle to just 11 Indonesian abattoirs is bound to fail and a far stricter regime is required to lift standards of animal welfare in the developing country, says Bruce Warren, an Australian who has worked in the industry in Indonesia for a decade.
Mr Warren's assessment of the federal government's response to graphic evidence of brutality in the slaughtering of Australian cattle came as one of the abattoirs subject to the ban prepared to kill more than a dozen steers and cows from Australia overnight.
Meanwhile, the Indonesian government urged Australia not to overreact and ban the trade outright. More than 100 abattoirs across Indonesia slaughter some 500,000 Australian cattle each year, some using excruciatingly harsh methods.
It is a highly lucrative business that earns Australian exporters more than $300 million a year. The demand from overseas also props up the price of beef in Australia by as much as 10¢ a kilo. If the price of Australian beef falls by that amount as more cattle flood the domestic market, producers could lose up to $250 million.
''You won't be able to control it,'' Mr Warren said of the government's ban on the 11 abattoirs where Animals Australia filmed gross mistreatment of Australian cattle. ''To suggest that Australian cattle won't end up in these abattoirs again in a couple of months … what bullshit.''
Corruption and lax enforcement would ensure the abattoirs would again have easy access to Australian cattle, he said.
Mr Warren operates an abattoir in Indonesia that uses stun guns to knock cattle unconscious before they are killed, a practice that is certified as halal by the Ulemas Council of Indonesia. He says there are about 10 such modern facilities in Indonesia and Australian cattle should be sent only there.
Mr Warren's business would probably benefit financially from the more stringent ban he is advocating, but he says his interest is safeguarding the industry long-term, improving animal welfare and avoiding a total ban called for by some.
The Land
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