Live export: Farmers planning mass convoy through Perth CBD over sheep shipping ban

Farmers from across WA have vowed to descend on Perth city en masse this Friday in a major protest against the Albanese Government’s live sheep export ban. Four convoys of more than 1300 vehicles — including road trains, stock crates, utes and buses — emblazoned with the rallying cry #KEEPTHESHEEP will process through the CBD to drum up support to save the embattled industry. Motorists are being warned to expect delays, with the convoys expected to approach from four different directions before making their way past Elizabeth Quay and along Riverside Drive. The protesters — some of whom will travel thousands of kilometres to attend — will then gather at a location near Muchea, 50km north of Perth. Chief organiser Paul Brown said Federal Labor’s controversial policy had united the entire agriculture sector in a way he had never seen. “There will be grain producers, sheep producers, beef producers, pastoralists, dairy farmers; there’s even loggers coming,” he told Countryman. “We’ve got families, shearers, trucking companies, (livestock) agencies; we’ve got workers from across the board. Everybody’s coming to support this because they are tired of the attacks from government on agriculture.” The Albanese Government this month announced May 2028 as the end of live sheep exports by sea after Federal Labor took the policy to the last two elections. Federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt on Tuesday confirmed legislation to end the trade would be introduced to Parliament this week. As well as the live export ban, Mr Brown — who owns a Port Hedland cattle feedlot — said the protest would draw attention to a litany of State and Federal Labor policies impacting primary producers. Among them was the Albanese Government’s deeply unpopular biosecurity protection levy, currently before the Senate, which will slug primary producers nationwide another $50 million on top of the $500m they already pay in agricultural levies. At a State level, he cited the Cook Government’s disastrous attempt to overhaul WA’s Aboriginal cultural heritage laws, which last year led to an embarrassing backflip after unprecedented backlash from farmers. “Live export is obviously the trigger point for this campaign, but we’re actually protesting against the disregard and the disrespect that we have been shown; the contempt that we have been shown by the Albanese Labor Government and his Minister Murray Watt,” Mr Brown said. “We were once a well-respected industry by government. We are now regarded a poor, distant, second cousin when it comes to policy development. “They’d rather advocate for small activist groups and cheap inner city votes on the east coast.” Mr Brown said planning had been under way for weeks and about 1300 vehicles had registered to attend so far. WAFarmers president John Hassell, a grain and sheep farmer at Pingelly in the Wheatbelt, said the Federal Government’s $107m “transition package” was an insult. “We need to send a very strong message to Government that they are putting a knife into rural Australia,” he said. “We have to send the message that they cannot muck with us like this without consequences — and all for a cheap, nasty, dirty little backroom deal with the Animal Justice Party.” Mr Hassell urged everyone who attends on Friday to be respectful. “It’s an awareness campaign, a public relations campaign. It’s not about trying to disrupt the city,” he said. “In fact, I’ll be very disappointed if it gets to that point. If there’s emergency vehicles, they need to be able to get through and we do not want to disrupt that kind of situation.”