Malcolm Roberts voted very strongly for live animal export

The majority voted in favour of a motion that "calls on the Government to heed community expectations and definitively ban the export of live horses, ponies and donkeys for slaughter". the motion was introduced by Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon (NSW).

During the vote there was one rebellion, with One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts (Qld) crossing the floor to vote 'no' against the rest of his party.

Motions like these don't have any legal force in and of themselves. That is, they don't change the law or force the Government to do as they ask. But they do demonstrate to the Government the will of the Senate and so can be significant.

Motion text

That the Senate—

(a) recognises that:

(i) on 24 March 2017, following trade talks between the Prime Minister and the Chinese Premier, the Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources, the Honourable Barnaby Joyce, MP was widely reported as stating that if people want edible donkey skins, Australia is going to provide them,

(ii) the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources ("the Department") confirmed in hearings of the Budget estimates held in May 2017 it is working on Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System (ESCAS) arrangements for horses, ponies and donkeys for the purposes of slaughter in the event an application for live export is lodged,

(iii) the Department has provided animal welfare groups with an exposure draft of the Export Control (Animals) Amendment (Equine Animals) Order 2017 for comment, and

(iv) the Australian Livestock Exporters Council, the peak body of Australia's current livestock export industry, has stated that it and its members do not support the commencement of any trade in the live export of horses and donkeys from Australia for slaughter; and

(b) calls on the Government to heed community expectations and definitively ban the export of live horses, ponies and donkeys for slaughter

The majority voted against a motion to end live animal export, which was introduced by NSW Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon.

This means that it was unsuccessful.

Motion text

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources report, Live-stock mortalities during exports by sea—Report for the period 1 January to 30 June 2016, tabled on 7 November 2016, recorded that another 839 cattle and 4,301 sheep died on live export ships in the first six months of this year,

(ii) from 2009 to 2015, a total of 147,969 animals, that is 7,791 cattle and 140,178 sheep, died on live export voyages from Australia, representing an average of 406 animals per week suffering lingering deaths in that period,

(iii) mortality is no indicator of morbidity or the number of animals who suffer on lengthy live export voyages,

(iv) deaths at sea are so accepted by the industry and government that on every consignment, 1 per cent of cattle and 2 per cent of sheep can die without triggering a government investigation, and

(v) not one exporter has ever had its licence revoked despite continuing and horrific breaches of the Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System (ESCAS); and

(b) calls on the Government to end the live export trade and work to expand the trade in boxed chilled meat.