A small fraction of the more than 70 million animals slaughtered in Australian export abattoirs were the subject of animal welfare concerns in the past two years, documents tabled in parliament reveal.
Agriculture Minister Murray Watt provided federal parliament with more than 8,000 pages of heavily redacted animal welfare incident reports following a request from Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi.
There were 631 reports relating to 4,083 animals issued over the two years.
That equated to 0.0066 per cent of animals sent to slaughter in 2020 and 0.005 per cent of animals in 2021.
The reports were prepared by vets or abattoir personnel across almost 80 export-accredited meatworks facilities and raised welfare concerns including suspected eye cancer, ingrown horns and lameness.
"I understand that following the conclusion of the reports the relevant states and territories have undertaken corrective action if required," Senator Watt said in a statement.
As of February 64 reports were still under investigation.
Greens appalled
Senator Faruqi said she was horrified by the cruelty detailed in the reports.
"It's sickening to see the avoidable suffering of thousands of animals," she said.
"It will take time to digest these documents in full, but their release is an important step in shining a light on cruelty in the meat industry.
"It shouldn't have taken a Senate order and months of delay to get these documents.
"The industrial scale of animal slaughter in Australia cannot be used to minimise the gravity of these incidents.
"Any one instance of animal cruelty is one too many.
"Cruelty cannot be allowed to remain part of the cost of doing business."
Senator Faruqui has again called on the federal government to establish an independent office of animal welfare to enforce stronger animal welfare laws.
System working, industry says
The Australian Meat Industry Council, which represents meat processors, butchers and exporters, said the release of the reports was "evidence of the government-industry reporting system working successfully over several years".
"The number of incidents raised from January 1, 2020 and December 31, 2021 equates to only 0.0058 per cent of the total number of animals processed through export abattoirs during that time," it said.
"In almost all of these cases, it shows that the industry has systematically identified and reported animals that were not 'fit to load' at the commencement of their journey.
"These animals should never have left the property or saleyard of origin due to the animal welfare risk."
Senator Faruqi's office has been contacted for comment.
