After the May 2011 revelations that all was not well in relation to the export of Australian live cattle to Indonesia and the discovery that instances of animal cruelty were occurring at certain abattoirs, the Federal Government sought to develop a new supply chain assurance framework.
This involved the requirement for ESCAS independent Audits of Indonesian feedlots and abattoirs which held/fattened/ processed Australian cattle.
One has to commend the Gillard Government for this action and note that it was more than the former Howard Government.
However, the usefulness of the framework may be limited due to the lack of transparency within these independent audits (which includes extensive black pen censorship) and, the fact that one of the more common sentences contained in these audits to date is a comfortably fuzzy observation which tells Australian citizens and their parliamentary representatives absolutely nothing about the current welfare status of these live cattle:
SAI Global Limited and its wholly-owned Indonesian subsidiary PT SAI Global Indonesia which conduct these audits may have to be re-educated as to the dictionary meaning of the words transparent, open and honest.
Perhaps this is something for Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Joe Ludwig and his department head can look into before the situation deteriorates.
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