A convoy of trucks disrupted peak hour traffic in Perth this morning. It was part of the `keep the sheep' protest movement, to draw attention to the federal government's phase-out of live sheep exports under legislation passed last year.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00We've seen dozens of utes and trucks travelling along this freeway today.
00:06They are just one of four convoys that were organised by the Keep the Sheep campaigners
00:12who were travelling north, south, east and west around the city displaying their campaign
00:17messages and they were aiming for maximum impact travelling through peak hour traffic.
00:22They didn't cause chaos, there was definitely disruption by the sheer numbers of people
00:27that were travelling along the freeway.
00:29And this has all come about because the Federal Labor Government announced last year that
00:33the live sheep export industry would end in May 2028.
00:38The Government set aside $140 million towards a transition to chilled or boxed meats but
00:45the industry says this isn't enough and they've been campaigning ever since.
00:49This has been shaping up to be a big election issue in WA because we have a huge live export
00:54industry here, particularly in our regional and rural communities and today we saw many
01:00utes and trucks displaying signs that said stand with our rural communities.
01:05The people that are in this industry say that it's the backbone of their communities, they've
01:10been doing it for over 100 years so making this change is going to have a huge impact
01:15on them and their communities as well.
01:18And they say that by making this change they won't be creating a demand for chilled or
01:23boxed meats.
01:25The partnerships that they have, they think those countries are now going to look elsewhere
01:29for the live sheep exports and possibly to countries that don't have high animal welfare
01:35standards or as high as we do in Australia.
01:39So they are pushing to continue with live sheep exports.
01:43And today we also had a peaceful counter protest in the CBD for people that do want this ban
01:52to come into place because they say that it's a cruel trade.
01:56It's a peaceful protest but they are supporting the decision that the Albanese government
02:01has made.
02:03The Keep the Sheep campaigners are going to continue campaigning, they're heading to a
02:08town called Whitby today which is about an hour away, they're holding a barbecue and
02:12they're going to discuss the next steps of their campaign which should be imminent given
02:16we now know the federal election has been called on May the 3rd.