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Australia's once vibrant live cattle trade lies in ruins after the latest revelations of torture caught on live camera Thursday were described in Parliament as the most shocking ever.
The horrendous footage, filmed in Gaza during the Festival of Sacrifice in October, shows Australian bulls and cows being beaten, stabbed and shot at while being towed through streets and makeshift slaughterhouses in front of jeering crowds.
Among the disturbing footage, a bound animal is blinded with a knife, while another is knee-capped with bullets from an assault rifle.
Animals Australia, a animal rights federation, said the abuse was sickening and in breach of Australia's live export regulations.
"There are no words to adequately describe the carnage in these videos and the scale of abuse endured by Australian cattle," Animals Australia campaign director Lyn White said.
The animal welfare agency said the footage had been provided to all MPs and Senators including firebrand independent MP Andrew Wilkie who condemned it as the worst and most shocking footage yet.
In response the opposition Labor party wants the export licenses of some livestock companies suspended while investigations are carried out into animal cruelty in the Middle East.
Opposition agriculture spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon described the footage as 'confronting and disturbing.'
Animal welfare organization, Compassion in World Farming told media Thursday that representatives were 'deeply shocked at the agonizing, protracted deaths inflicted on Australian cattle' in Gaza in October 2013.
Peter Stevenson, Compassion in World Farming's Chief Policy Advisor, said:" I have worked in this field for over 20 years and have never witnessed slaughter practices as cruel and vicious as those inflicted on Australian cattle in Gaza. Compassion in World Farming calls on Australia to now end its ruthless live export trade."
The livestock export industry supports the livelihoods of thousand of farming families and communities in Australia.
The industry employs 13,000 people across rural and regional Australia and is worth 1.8 billion AU dollars to the Australian economy.
The industry is also seen as vital in underpinning livestock prices for sheep, cattle and goat producers across Australia by providing an additional market for livestock.
According to animal advocates here, however, Australia's trade is responsible for massive animal suffering.
Due in large part to the immense distances, particularly to the Middle East, the huge numbers of animals involved and the inhumane slaughter methods inflicted on Australian animals in the importing countries.
Compassion in World Farming has joined Animals Australia in support of their call for an end to live exports.
Australia's live export trade has been hammered by a string of PR nightmares -- including the sight of the tainted cargo of the Cormo Express sailing around the world for weeks as some 6,000 sheep died, the Indonesia revelations, the regular reporting of slaughter in the Middle East have all done severe damage to Australia's standing in the world.
The surrounding controversy could well undermine Australia's valuable export trade in meat and other products as importers may lose faith in Australia's integrity and the quality of its products.
Peter Stevenson from Compassion in World Farming was far more direct, damning Australian exporters for the 'audacity' to claim that by continuing to export live animals they can help improve animal welfare in the importing countries.
"This self-serving argument is revealed as unrealistic by the fact that Australia has been exporting millions of animals for decades to countries in the Middle East and elsewhere and yet immense cruelty during unloading, transport and slaughter continue to be regularly revealed in the countries that import live animals from Australia."
Australia has been able to capitalize on current market access advantages in China and the Middle East. Beef exports for 2013 are forecast to set a new record at over 1 million tones, with recent AU dollar depreciation and emerging market growth increasing demand but leading to declines in volumes to Japan and the U.S.
The Australian government introduced a regulatory framework, Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System (ESCAS) from October 2011.
Under ESCAS, the exporter must provide evidence of compliance right through the supply chain before being issued with approval by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.
