November 28, 2003

Livecorp Considering To Sue the Australia Government For Disruption of Sheep Trade

The Australia Prime Minister has been brought into the debate over whether a consignment of sheep for export is permitted to leave for Kuwait.

The Australian Livestock Export Corporation Limited, Livecorp, says the company that owns the 70,000 sheep is considering to sue the Federal Government for disruption of trade.

The Government is refusing to issue an export licence for the sheep until it gets a guarantee from the Kuwaiti government that it will accept them.

Livecorp chief executive Kevin Shiell says the issue now lies with the Prime Minister.

"Certainly the issue has been elevated within the Government level, and it's because of that being discussed, we understand, at Cabinet and that's been a real, because of the level of concern, so I mean that's not something we have any say in. That's just a consequence of the concern over this issue."

Meanwhile there's been a rush of public submissions to the Federal Government's review of the livestock export industry.

Review chairman Dr John Keniry says more than 200 submissions have been received so far, and cover the full spectrum of views, from those who want to ban live exports altogether to people who support the trade but suggest it needs to change.

Dr Keniry says despite the large number of submissions, the review team is on track to report to the government, which they set the dateline to be year end.

"We're picking our way through all the submissions and then we've got a few meetings with some people to follow up on queries and so forth and they should be finished by the end of next week, and then after that we've got to formulate our recommendations and then write them up in a report, which we hope to submit to the government just before Christmas. That's our timetable but the terms of reference are for the end of the year."