Australia 2019 – Northern hemisphere summer live sheep export prohibition
Law & Regulation
Expired
June 1, 2019
Summary
The Australian Meat and Live-stock Industry (Prohibition of Export of Sheep by Sea to Middle East – Northern Summer) Order 2019 (Northern Summer Order) prohibited live sheep exports by sea from Australia to specified Middle East destinations from 1 June 2019 to 22 September 2019. The Order was introduced as an interim measure pending completion of a Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) on live sheep exports during the Northern Hemisphere summer, and is explicitly documented as expired with no continuing legal effect beyond 22 September 2019. The Australian Livestock Exporters’ Council (ALEC) simultaneously maintained a voluntary industry moratorium covering the same period for member exporters. The combined effect of the Order and industry moratorium was a suspension of live sheep sea exports from Australia to Middle East destinations for the defined period.
Background Context
Before 2019, live sheep exports by sea from Australia to the Middle East during the Northern Hemisphere summer operated under the Australian Standards for the Export of Livestock (ASEL) without a calendar-based federal prohibition period. In 2017–2018, footage from the livestock carrier Awassi Express, obtained by advocacy organisations and broadcast by Australian media, documented high mortality and heat stress events in exported sheep during summer voyages. The footage prompted parliamentary inquiries, government-commissioned reviews including the independent McCarthy Review into conditions for live sheep exports during the Northern Hemisphere summer, and a review of the heat stress risk assessment model with climatological analysis from the Bureau of Meteorology. In December 2018, ALEC announced a voluntary three-month moratorium for June–August 2019 for member companies, which the Western Australian Government publicly welcomed. The Commonwealth Government subsequently introduced the binding Northern Summer Order in April 2019, framing it explicitly as an interim measure for 2019 only while the RIS process was completed.
System Impact
Direction
Neutral / Administrative
Type
Alters Legal Basis
Significance
Low
The Northern Summer Order prohibited export permits for live sheep voyages by sea from Australia to specified Middle East destinations from 1 June 2019 to 22 September 2019. Parliamentary chronologies and departmental sources confirm that live sheep exports to those destinations were not conducted during the prohibition window. The ALEC voluntary moratorium, covering June–August 2019 for member exporters, preceded and aligned with the Order, with Commonwealth law binding all exporters including non-members once the Order was in force. The Order expired on 22 September 2019 and is documented in the RIS as having no continuing legal effect and not forming part of the ongoing regulatory framework. Following the RIS process, the Australian Government introduced recurring annual prohibition periods from 2020, carrying the seasonal prohibition mechanism into the Export Control Act 2020 and associated delegated legislation — documented as a separate Development record.
Anticipated Effects
Whether the 2019 prohibition reduced the total annual number of sheep exported live from Australia to the Middle East, or primarily redistributed those exports to months outside the prohibition window or to alternative routes, is not quantified in primary regulatory sources. The RIS analysis acknowledges trade adaptation as a possible outcome but does not provide a 2019 season headcount or annual comparison figure. Available evidence indicates the prohibition suspended the trade during the defined window; the net system effect on annual animal numbers is not established.
Significance Rationale
Assigned Neutral / Administrative (impact direction) because the Order suspended live sheep exports by sea to the Middle East for a defined seasonal window within a single year; annual trade volumes were not documented as having declined as a result, with the research evidence indicating redistribution of exports to permitted months and routes rather than a net reduction in total animals exported. The temporary nature of the measure — it expired on 22 September 2019 and was replaced by a separate regulatory regime from 2020 — supports this assessment.
Assigned Alters Legal Basis (impact type) because the Order changed what was legally permitted for a defined period: export permits for live sheep voyages to the Middle East by sea could not be issued during the prohibition window, creating a temporary legal barrier to a previously permitted commercial activity.
Assigned Low significance because the measure was time-limited to one season, applied to a subset of live export trade routes and months, subsequently expired, and produced no documented lasting change in annual export volumes or system structure — its structural significance lies in establishing a precedent for calendar-based prohibition that was later institutionalised through a separate instrument from 2020.
Within The System
Key Actors
The Australian Government, acting through the then Department of Agriculture (now DAFF), drafted and administered the Northern Summer Order. Federal Agriculture Minister Senator Bridget McKenzie announced the extension of the ban to 22 September 2019 on 31 July 2019. The Office of Impact Analysis published the final RIS documenting the Order’s interim status and policy context. The Australian Livestock Exporters’ Council (ALEC) implemented the parallel voluntary moratorium for June–August 2019 for member exporters. The Western Australian Government (McGowan Government) publicly advocated for the moratorium in 2018 and welcomed ALEC’s announcement. The Bureau of Meteorology contributed climatological analysis to the heat stress risk assessment underpinning the prohibition’s scientific basis.
Editorial Correction Notice
Scale & Prevalence: The number of live sheep that would have been exported to Middle East destinations during the June–September 2019 prohibition window is not specified in the Order, the RIS, or departmental overview sources. Any headcount estimate would require direct consultation of DAFF monthly livestock export statistical tables for 2019 compared with equivalent months in prior years. Whether the prohibition reduced annual 2019 export totals or redistributed exports to permitted months is not established in available sources.
Related records: This record covers the 2019 interim Northern Summer Order only. The post-2020 recurring annual prohibition regime, introduced following completion of the RIS and operating under the Export Control Act 2020, is a separate development and requires a separate record. The 2024 phase-out legislation is documented in a separate record (Australia 2024 – Phase-out of live sheep exports by sea).
Key Actors: Specific live sheep export companies subject to the 2019 Order are not systematically listed in regulatory instruments. Media reporting references proceedings related to the Awassi Express voyages as a precipitating factor but those proceedings are separate legal actions not covered by this record.
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