EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Issued by the authority of the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
Australian Meat and Live-stock Industry 1997
Australian Meat and Live-stock Industry Amendment and Repeal Order 2004
Subsection 74(1) of the Australian Meat and Live-stock Industry Act 1997 (“the Act”) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations prescribing all matters that are required or permitted by this Act to be prescribed or that are necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to this Act.
Paragraph 17(1)(a) provides that the Secretary may make written orders, not inconsistent with the regulations, to be complied with by holders of export licences. Paragraph 17(5)(a) provides that an export licence is subject to the condition that the holder of the licence must comply with orders made under section 17.
The purpose of the Australian Meat and Live-stock Industry Amendment and Repeal Order 2004 (“the Order”) is to repeal five orders made under section 17 of the Australian Meat and Live-stock Industry Act 1997 (“the AMLI Act”) and to amend the Australian Meat and Live-stock Industry (Live Cattle Exports to Republic of Korea) Order 2002 by deleting and simplifying provisions. The repeal and amendment of these orders are consequential on the making of the new Export Control (Animals) Order 2004 made under the Export Control Act 1982 and the Australian Standards for the Export of Live-stock.
The repeal and amendment of the orders are necessary to avoid duplication or inconsistency with the new Export Control (Animals) Order 2004 and the Australian Standards for the Export of Live-stock. Some orders are subsumed by the new Export Control (Animals) Order 2004 in accordance with the Australian Government’s decision to increase regulation of the live-stock export trade following the Keniry Review into Live-stock Exports. The requirement to provide a consignment management plan for pregnant cattle exports under the Australian Meat and Live-stock (Export of Pregnant Cattle) Order 2002, for example, is no longer required as the new Export Control (Animals) Order 2004 contains a provision requiring exporters to submit a consignment risk management plan for all live-stock exports.
Other orders are relocated in the Australian Standards for the Export of Live-stock, such as the requirement for minimum floor space in the Australian Meat and Live-stock Industry (Export of Live Sheep and Goats to the Middle East) Order 2003. The relocation of some requirements in the Australian Standards for the Export of Live-stock gives effect to the Government’s response to Recommendation 1 of the Keniry Report into Live-stock Exports to develop a national standard for the export of live-stock containing standards for the entire export chain, including standards for sourcing, land transport, registered premises, vessel preparation and loading, on-board management and air transport.
Furthermore, other orders are repealed or deleted because they are no longer current or necessary.
Details of the amendment are set out below:
Order 1 provides that the Order is named the Australian Meat and Live-stock Industry Amendment and Repeal Order 2004.
Order 2 provides that the Order commences on the day on which it is notified in the Gazette.
Order 3 repeals the Australian Meat and Live-stock Industry (Export of Cattle) Order 2003 as the requirements in that order are incorporated in the new Export Control (Animals) Order 2004 and the Australian Standards for the Export of Live-stock relating to sourcing, vessel preparation and loading.
Order 4 repeals the Australian Meat and Live-stock Industry (Export of Female Sheep and Goats for Slaughter) Order 2002, as the requirements in that order are incorporated in the new Export Control (Animals) Order 2004 and the Australian Standards for the Export of Live-stock relating to sourcing and air transportation.
Order 5 repeals the Australian Meat and Live-stock Industry (Export of Live Sheep and Goats to the Middle East) Order 2003, as the requirements in that order are incorporated in the new Export Control (Animals) Order 2004 and the Australian Standards for the Export of Live-stock relating to vessel preparation and loading.
Order 6 repeals the Australian Meat and Live-stock Industry (Export of Pregnant Cattle) Order 2002, as the requirements in that order are incorporated in the new Export Control (Animals) Order 2004 and the Australian Standards for the Export of Live-stock relating to sourcing and air transportation.
Order 7 repeals the Australian Meat and Live-stock Industry (Export of Sheep from Northern Ports) Order 2001, as the requirements in that order are incorporated in the Australian Standards for the Export of Live-stock relating to sourcing.
Order 8 provides that Schedule 1 to the Order amends the Australian Meat and Live-stock Industry (Live Cattle Exports to Republic of Korea) Order 2002.
Order 9 sets out transitional arrangements applying to consignments of live-stock for which a notice of intention to export was submitted to the Secretary before 1 December 2004.
Suborder 9(1) provides that order 9 applies to an export of live-stock for which a notice of intention to export was given to the Secretary before 1 December 2004 in accordance with the old Export Control (Animals) Orders as amended.
Suborder 9(2) provides that the new Export Control (Animals) Order 2004 does not apply to consignments of live-stock to which order 9 applies, and that these consignments may be exported before 31 January if they comply with any order which, but for the repeals and amendments made by orders 3-8, would otherwise have applied to the export.
Suborder 9(3) provides that, after 31 January 2005, consignments of live-stock to which order 9 applies, must not be exported unless the export complies with the Export Control (Animals) Order 2004 including the requirement to submit a notice of intention to export and a consignment risk management plan in accordance with that order.
Schedule 1
Item 1 amends order 4 of the Australian Meat and Live-stock Industry (Live Cattle Exports to Republic of Korea) Order 2002 by omitting the definitions and any associated notes for accredited shipboard stockworker, LEAP, LiveCorp and NLIS. This amendment is consistent with the new Export Control (Animals) Order 2004 and the Australian Standards for the Export of Live-stock. Item 1 also inserts a new definition for “radio frequency identification” that is non-brand specific and consistent with current industry understanding.
Item 2 replaces the entire order 5 with a new simplified provision. The new provision omits requirements that are incorporated in the new Export Control (Animals) Order 2004, such as the requirement to provide a consignment management plan for cattle exports to the Republic of Korea. This requirement is no longer needed in the Australian Meat and Live-stock Industry (Live Cattle Exports to Republic of Korea) Order 2002, as the new Export Control (Animals) Order 2004 contains a provision requiring exporters to submit a consignment risk management plan for all live-stock exports to all destinations.
The new provision also deletes requirements that do not need to be in the Australian Meat and Live-stock Industry (Live Cattle Exports to Republic of Korea) Order 2002. For example, the requirement to hold a live-stock export licence to export cattle to the Republic of Korea is not needed in the Australian Meat and Live-stock Industry (Live Cattle Exports to Republic of Korea) Order 2002, as it is already a requirement under section 54 of the Act.
Item 3 replaces the entire order 6 with a new simplified provision. The new provision omits the requirements regarding notices of intention, stocking densities, treatment and testing, as these requirements are incorporated in the new Export Control (Animals) Order 2004 or the Australian Standards for the Export of Live-stock. The new provision also omits the requirement to identify cattle intended for export with a method supplied or approved by LiveCorp, as it is sufficient that cattle are individually identified using radio frequency identification.