Access to international markets

There is growing evidence that animal welfare practices are increasingly impacting access to domestic and international markets. As tariff barriers are removed, there is a growing reliance on non-tariff barriers, including relating to animal welfare practices. The issue is that Australia needs to be particularly aware of is ensuring that our standards meet or exceed those of our trading partners. By doing so, we minimise the potential for stakeholders in those countries to block our access to their markets.

This is a real threat as evidenced by recent activity of the British RSPCA and farming groups in the UK. They have identified several differences in the animal welfare standards of Australia and the UK that are barriers to the implementation of the recently signed Free Trade Agreement between the two countries.

There has been a trend by the industry to deal with animal welfare concerns through broader access to analgesics. However, this creates other public health issues, risks further cutting animals off from accessible veterinary care, and ultimately misses the messages being delivered by markets and animal welfare science. Increasingly informed consumers are demanding that animal health and welfare be prioritised in production processes. This, coupled with an improving understanding of the science behind animal welfare, points to the essential ongoing involvement of veterinarians (experts in the science and trusted by the community) as the key element of future-proofing our access to markets for animal products.

Recommendation 6.1: Benchmarking of Australian animal welfare practices against trading partners, protecting our competitive advantages while ensuring modern animal welfare is achieved.