Legislation being drafted to bring back the controversial trade of live animal exports by sea is getting stuck in the cogs of Cabinet.
The Labour government banned the trade two years ago, after the Gulf Livestock 1 vessel en route to China capsized in 2020 during a typhoon, resulting in the deaths of over 40 crew – including two New Zealanders – and more than 5800 cattle.
National and Act campaigned during the last election to bring back the trade, and it was a condition of the coalition agreement.
The Parliamentary Counsel Office (PCO) was drafting the Animal Welfare Act amendment to bring back the trade — worth $374 million in 2022 — despite opposition from animal welfare groups, veterinarians and tens of thousands of petitioners.
Associate Agriculture Minister Andrew Hoggard said the reinstatement was focused on the cattle trade, and it was working to lift industry standards.
“What will come forward is for cattle only because that is where the market is for.”
Cabinet would approve the draft amendment before it was introduced to the House, while the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) developed updated regulations.
Hoggard said it was working through the Cabinet approval process.
“Hopefully soon. But there’s a process I’ve got to go through and get Cabinet approval. So yeah, I’m working on that.”
In late April, aired in early May, Hoggard told RNZ he expected the legislation to go to Cabinet “soon” in the next month or so.
But Hoggard said the PCO was facing a high workload of drafting legislation, which contributed to the current timeline.
“There’s quite a bit of challenge at the moment with the drafting of legislation. The lawyers are quite busy doing all sorts of things. So that’s sort of added time to basically everyone’s bills and pieces of work they’re doing, just getting stuff done on time.
“But I’m at the final stages now. I am hopeful that I’ll be able to make some announcements shortly on this.”
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson of New Zealand First said it was of high public interest and it was important they got it right.
However, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said the government should stop wasting time and money and leave the ban in place.
“I understand things have gone to Cabinet but have got stuck at Cabinet, that there is probably some disagreement amongst coalition parties about whether this can be reinstated or not,” Boyack said. “I think things are getting a bit sticky for the government.”
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She said the public did not want the trade reinstated due in part to reputational harm it might cause globally.
“They have failed to listen to animal welfare experts and vets who have been very clear for a number of years, that there is actually no way to reinstate this with improved animal welfare. It just cannot be done.
“So the fact that we’ve got delayed legislation, I think shows that they have run into trouble in terms of actually delivering on what they promised.”
Boyack said gold standard animal welfare for livestock on ships for months at a time was “impossible”.
Green Party agriculture spokesperson Steve Abel agreed, saying shipping cattle for weeks in poor conditions was incompatible with animal welfare.
But Hoggard said they had consulted with vets and animal welfare exports to ensure the highest animal welfare standards.
He said he was confident they could ensure animal welfare, while boosting jobs and economic growth from the industry.
It came as Australia was planning to phase out live exports of sheep by sea to end the trade by May 2028.
MPI and the PCO declined to comment.
Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay (National) had nothing to add to Hoggard’s comments.
By Monique Steele of rnz.co.nz
