The plan to overturn the short-lived animal exports ban is still afloat
The practice was only outlawed last year, but could be scrapped by 2025. Why?
Mōrena, and welcome to The Bulletin for Friday, August 16.
In today’s edition: Christopher Luxon wants to take the politics out of infrastructure, Kim Dotcom could be extradited to the United States and international visitors will soon pay to visit Te Papa. But first, the government prepares to launch consultation on its proposed overturn of the ban on live animal exports.
Get ready to have your say
New Zealand was the first country to implement a ban on live animal exports, but it may be short-lived. Public consultation on its return is expected to begin later this month. In late June, the associate agriculture minister Andrew Hoggard announced that the government hoped to introduce legislation in the new year to see the practice reintroduced, fulfilling a promise found in the coalition agreement between National and Act. A spokesperson for Hoggard told The Bulletin that the consultation document was in the final stages of development and would be released following cabinet consideration. The broad term “live export” is a bit misleading. Exports of animals for the purpose of slaughter have been outlawed in New Zealand since the late-2000s. However, until last year’s ban, livestock could still be shipped overseas for breeding or milking purposes, primarily cows being sent to China. And, as 1News explains here, we do still export smaller animals like bees and chickens.
A short-lived ban
The ban on live exports may only have been in force since last year, but like much in politics, a change of government meant a reversal was almost certain (Labour has pledged to reverse the reversal if it returns to power, so it goes). The last government expedited the ban after a ship carrying live cattle sank in the East China Sea in 2020. Two New Zealanders were among those killed, along with nearly 6,000 cows. At the time, former prime minister Jacinda Ardern told Newshub she had “significant concerns” about live exports. Labour had already commissioned a review of exports by this point, but Covid-19 delayed its findings until 2021 and it took another two years for the ban to kick in. In the same month the ban started, National pledged to reverse it. In January this year a $1m lobbying campaign by Livestock Export New Zealand was revealed by RNZ’s investigative reporter Guyon Espiner.
The arguments fall either way
It’s understandable why live exporting is a controversial practice: it involves live animals. A 1News Verian poll conducted shortly before last year’s election found that just over half – 51% – believed the practice should remain outlawed. In June this year, a petition signed by close to 60,000 people was handed to parliament urging the government to keep the ban in place. Experts canvassed by the Science Media Centre last week expressed concern at the return of the practice. “The science is unequivocal – cattle suffer during live export,” said Dr Arnja Dale, chief scientific officer for the SPCA.
But on the flipside, advocates would argue it’s a lucrative industry – one that had been worth $500m – in a country that relies so heavily on farming. It’s worth putting the figures in context, however, as BusinessDesk’s Julia Jones did earlier this year (paywalled). Live cattle export represented about 1.27% of total dairy exports, 0.51% of all agricultural exports, and 0.09% of the country’s GDP. Those with vested interest have been advocating strongly for a reversal of the ban. Riley Kennedy reported for BusinessDesk (paywalled) last year that the export industry was hoping animal shipments would be able to resume from this month. Livestock Export NZ chair Mark Willis said he was aware stricter standards would be needed. “We know there is definitely some work to do in terms of creating a new and improved regulatory regime that ensures animal welfare to the standard that New Zealanders are wanting,” he said at the time.
The ‘gold standard’
In 2021, when the ban was first announced, Mirjam Guesgen explained in this detailed piece for The Spinoff why the practice of exporting live animals was, for those opposed, not worth the money it brought in. Guesgen explained that animals being sent abroad can experience “nausea, dizziness, weakness, breathlessness, helplessness, loneliness, boredom, depression, anxiety, fear, panic and hypervigilance”. She added: “This isn’t tree-hugging, fluffy opinion. It’s tested, peer-reviewed science.”
But beyond that, there have also been concerns about what happens to the animals when (or, if) they reach their final destination. Labour’s Damien O’Connor argued earlier this year that New Zealand's economy relied on the ethical management of animals and reinstating the practice could damage our global reputation.
During the election campaign, then-opposition leader Christopher Luxon maintained that cattle exports would require greater regulation than they previously did in order to protect animal welfare, including purpose-built ships and a certification regime, reported the Herald. A phrase that has been repeated by advocates, the government included, is the “gold standard”. But what does that mean? As Rural News explained, it’s not just a phrase but a proposal, and would involve a transparent reporting system that measures and reports on animal welfare during the voyage. Appearing on TVNZ’s Q+A earlier this year, trade minister Todd McClay said the government would not just be returning to how things were before the ban. "If these very high standards that are to be set can't be met, then you should not expect any animals to leave New Zealand."
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Justice minister signs Kim Dotcom extradition order
Kim Dotcom is facing extradition to the United States, reported The Guardian, after justice minister Paul Goldsmith signed off on the order. It’s in relation to the long-standing criminal charges against the German-born entrepreneur who founded the filesharing site Megaupload. Dotcom has been fighting against extradition for more than a decade after an FBI-ordered raid on his Auckland mansion. In the years since, Dotcom had a swing at entering politics via the Internet Party and even forayed briefly into music. Two years ago, reported Toby Manhire for The Spinoff, the Supreme Court ruled that Dotcom was liable for extradition on 12 of the 13 counts on which they are sought.
Goldsmith said he had considered all of the information carefully “and… decided that Mr Dotcom should be surrendered to the US to face trial”. In response, on Twitter, Dotcom described New Zealand as an “obedient US colony in the South Pacific”.
Listen: Finally, the RBNZ cuts the OCR
The Reserve Bank cut the official cash rate this week for the first time since the beginning of Covid. This week on When the Facts Change, Bernard Hickey talks with Kiwibank chief economist Jarrod Kerr about how the central bank changed its mind when the facts changed, and what it means for mortgage rates and the housing market.
Listen below or wherever you get your podcasts.
A rapid fire 48 hours in Australia for Christopher Luxon
Prime minister Christopher Luxon is in Australia and will meet today with his counterpart Anthony Albanese. As is to be expected, the issue of 501 deportees will be high on the agenda, reported Newstalk ZB’s Jason Walls. Though, as is also to be expected, Luxon has talked up the strength of the trans-Tasman relationship labelling Australia an “indispensable ally”. Before his visit to Canberra, Luxon spent time in Sydney alongside his trio of infrastructure ministers – Bishop, Jones and Brown. That visit included a stop at Infrastructure NSW. The NBR’s Lachlan Colquhoun reported that while the PM ruled out asset sales to address our infrastructure deficit, some of the “mechanisms” he had learned while in Sydney would be applied to our new infrastructure agency. He also talked up the bipartisan nature of developing big projects in Sydney and said he hoped that New Zealand, too, could take the politics out of infrastructure given our short electoral cycle.
But that’s not all. Luxon managed to fit in a visit to the Lowy Insitute where, reported Stuff’s Jenna Lynch, he reiterated his warning that a Ukraine-style conflict could happen much closer to home.
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Click and Collect
The Commerce Commission has warned New Zealanders could be losing “tens of millions of dollars a year” from supermarket pricing errors.
As we touched on yesterday, the government has confirmed the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha – will be scaled back following the findings of an independent review.
International visitors will soon pay $35 to visit our national museum, Te Papa. Don’t worry: locals will still be able to pop in for free.
Changes are afoot at news outlet Stuff. Chief executive Laura Maxwell is leaving for a job with News Corp in Australia and the publication’s owner Sinead Boucher will, at least in the interim, take over the role once again.
We talked about benefit sanctions earlier in the week after the government pushed ahead with its proposed crackdown. Today’s episode of The Detail asks: what does the evidence tell us? For more on this, I recommend you read Max Rashbrooke’s excellent piece for The Spinoff if you missed it yesterday.
Former director general of health Ashley Bloomfield has waded into the hot button health debate, telling Tova O’Brien that hypberbole isn’t helpful. “To constantly talk about it as failing, or as a set of crises, or as a cock-up… doesn’t do justice to the fact that the system does deliver for many people.”
Nicola Willis's letter sent before KiwiRail ferry cancellation has been released. (paywalled)
Cadence Chung on emerging into the light
“You’re writing something for the New Zealand String Quartet and you’re performing for NZ Opera. Year 9, you wouldn’t have believed that.” Cadence Chung is a 20-year-old university student who’s also an accomplished poet, magazine co-founder, composer and singer.
In the latest instalment of Art Work, she tells us how she stays so productive and the challenges of being an emerging artist. Read it here. (sponsored)
Hayden Donnell thanks New Zealand's interest rate cutting heroes, the unemployed. Mike Bunce looks deeper into the science of genetic modification. Alex Casey considers what megastar Chappell Roan could be doing in Auckland in February. David Hill remembers the good old days of our education system - they actually weren't all that good. Brannavan Gnanalingam sends a postcard from the Paris Olympics. Fran Barclay argues that divorce deserves its own ceremony. Hera Lindsay Bird advises a reader who wants to say no to her good firends expensive Spanish destination wedding.
That’s it for another week, thanks for reading. It’s been great to be back in the hot seat! See you bright and early on Monday.
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I didn't realise we were sending COWS FOR MILKING ...WTF? Doesn't the size of our agricultural earnings largely depend on MILKING COWS IN AOTEAROA? Seems counterintuitive to supply our dairy product buyers with the means to a) produce dairy from our top producing animals (or why would they want them? AND b) breed new dairy stock - both outcomes to grow their own supply so they need less of ours?
Could the aircraft carrying Luxon, Brown, Bishop and Jones please break down in Australia? Just for the next 2.5 years… Surely it’s not a tall ask from our creaky airforce?