NZ live cattle exporters say it's too hard to set up in Australia

However, they are finding the regulatory hurdles almost impossible to navigate, in what an international trade expert has described as further proof of the argument the Australian Government is ending the live cattle trade 'by stealth'.

As Agriculture Minister Murray Watt this month doubled down on the Federal Government's plan to phase out live sheep exports, saying broad community opinion was that the trade had to stop, the experience of the Kiwis trying to move into the Australian industry has fuelled concerns the cattle trade will be next on the chopping board - one way or another.

The federal government makes no apology about the comprehensive regulations in place, saying they reflect the values of successive Australian governments and the Australian community.

"Australia is one of the few livestock exporting countries that have standards that consider animal health and welfare outcomes through the entire livestock export supply chain," a spokesperson from the Department of Agriculture told Farmonline.

"Through ESCAS (the Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System), Australia is the only country that has requirements placed on exporters relating to the treatment and handling of exported feeder and slaughter livestock in the importing country.

"It is a commercial decision for individuals to make regarding their participation in the Australian livestock export industry."

The NZ Government two years ago made the decision to phase out all dairy breeder live exports by sea by April 2023, having already banned live export of slaughter cattle many years ago.

International Trade Partner at accountancy and advisory firm BDO Australia Bill Cole said the migration of NZ live cattle exporters to Australia was now in full swing.

"It's not a tsunami but it's really their only avenue. They've accumulated a lot of expertise in this industry, so it's unlikely they will just shut up shop," he said.

Alongside the increased investment coming into the industry, and the ramped up buyer competition for Australian cattle, that influx of knowledge and connections with markets like China could be a big boost for the Australian industry, Mr Cole felt.

The Kiwis are looking at establishing both vertically integrated grower and exporter businesses and operations that solely trade live-ex cattle.

Mr Cole - who has several clients in this space - said the regulatory requirements were pushing many into opting for just trading certifications.

"They've certainly been taken aback by what Australian authorities require of them and are looking at their numbers closely," he said.

Reforms to legislation in the live cattle trade driven by stringent animal welfare protection, and the government policy to recover all the costs of oversight of the trade, have been enormously controversial in recent years, with industry leaders warning it is pushing many out of business.

Mr Cole agrees.

"In creating increasingly high barriers to entry and hurdles for ongoing business, it means Australia can not capitalise on these one-off events where we have the opportunity to take on experienced traders that will boost our industry and give our country a helping hand in mending trading troubles with China," he said.

"Arguably, some kind of transition process to assist the New Zealand operators to move here would have been called for.

"There is a very strong interest to avoid the politics of animal exports. It's easier to keep the urban vote by being seen to be doing things that chip away at the industry's competitiveness and ability to be viable."

Mr Cole, like many in Australian agribusiness, says he can't see the live sheep trade ban happening in isolation - that all live animal exports are headed down the same path despite the Albanese government's insistence beef and dairy are vastly different trades.

He says there are far wider consequences to Australia from such strategies.

"Policies like phasing out live sheep exports do not exist in a vacuum," he said.

The 2011 ban of live cattle to Indonesia demonstrated that in the damage it caused to relations with Indonesia, the massive loss of livelihoods in northern Australia and the subsequent hundreds of millions it will now cost the Australian taxpayer in compensation, he said.

"When you stop a trade you are impacting other nations - the question is what are the flow-on consequences into our other industries of that," Mr Cole explained.

"There is always a quid pro quo. Animal rights is something we have to manage but to obliterate entire industries is a huge mistake domestically and internationally.

"And the logic is messy. Ask anyone standing in front of a rump steak in Woolies if they agree with raising livestock for food. If you do, how do you justify denying that right to others?"