In July 2024, the Australian Parliament passed legislation to end the export of live sheep by sea from Australia from May 2028.
For decades, sheep exported from Australia have been subjected to long sea voyages, extreme heat, overcrowding, deprivation, stress, injury and death. The live export trade treats sentient individuals as commodities to be transported and sold for profit.
The end of live sheep exports by sea removes one particularly visible form of animal exploitation, but it does not address the broader system that treats our fellow animals as resources for human use.
The suffering involved in live export is not an isolated problem caused only by transport conditions. From an abolitionist vegan perspective, the core injustice is that animals are bred, owned and killed as property.
Unless society moves towards respecting the rights of animals and embracing veganism, sheep will continue to be exploited and killed within Australia.
Vegan Australia encourages people to look beyond individual industries and practices and consider the underlying attitudes that allow all forms of animal use to continue. Campaigns focused only on particular practices can sometimes create the impression that other forms of exploitation are acceptable if they are presented as more humane or better regulated.
A vegan world is one in which animals are no longer treated as commodities, products or economic units, but as individuals with their own lives, interests and relationships.
The end of live sheep exports by sea also reflects changing public attitudes. More people are questioning the idea that animals exist for human use and are recognising that our fellow animals are not ours to use.
Every person who goes vegan helps build a society based on respect for animals rather than exploitation.
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