Whistleblower Faisal Ullah secretly filmed the conditions sheep on board bulk carriers are exposed to - horrible. They are squalid, for years, live sheep exporters have assured the Australian public the well-being of sheep on these voyages is their priority - this claim has now been well and truly refuted.
The footage sent to the Federal Minister on Wednesday by Animals Australia needs to spark a federal enquiry; one suspects the footage was also passed onto 60 Minutes Australia who aired the segment - for this we are thankful. Pressure needs to be applied to the federal government; now 60 Minutes has aired the story, the federal government will be forced to act.
Filming onboard sheep ships has been banned by the operators; all requests by news organisations had previously been denied - it's now not hard to see why. 60 Minutes describes this as explosive footage in their promotions and they are correct. They air secret footage they claim will shock the world, this animal cruelty had to be exposed and action needs to be taken immediately.
Channel 9 reporter Liam Bartlett stated on Twitter that Australians will be horrified, that is an understatement. Bartlett also hinted that the only reason Federal Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources David Littleproud acted was because of the footage aired on the program. Possibly, but I like no doubt many others will want answers and those answers had better be good.
Faisal Ullah, who is a graduate of Pakistan's Marine Academy was employed as a trainee navigation officer on five shipments from Australia has done our nation a great service; he couldn't just stand by and do nothing. One suspects his whistleblowing has just scuttled his maritime career just as it was beginning, we hope he is not black-banned and able to enjoy a long and distinguished maritime career as he did the right thing and doesn't deserve this.
No comments:
Post a Comment