Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston

Are funerals for the living or the dead? I am still not sure but I tend to think they are for the living, except one’s own of course. That is most certainly for the dead.

As a follow up to my last piece on the live animal exports issue Animals Australia has given permission for me to publish on Webdiary its record of major incidents in the trade. It is an appalling record.  In reading the facts relating to these incidents one can get some idea of the enormous level of suffering of large numbers of animals in this trade.

It is commonly assumed that the live export trade in sheep and cattle to the Middle East is necessary and economically vital. Necessary because Islamic (halal) slaughter demands it, and vital because of the export income it brings to Australia. Although it is certainly in the immediate interests of those involved in the live export trade, none of the rest is true.

You can do two things with land in the grain belt. You can work it and try and make it work for you or, rather, your bank balance. Or you can give it a break, let the place go back to grass, put livestock on it, and forget about the bank balance. Few families have the luxury of that choice.

Hope was the last casualty and it was not till 1921 that the family felt they had to let go, and held a memorial service. The file of these letters, some photos of a handsome lad, and a small envelope labeled pressed flowers from the service are all that remain, along with his name amongst the missing on the Menin Gate in the Belgian village of Ypres.

In the fever of the political moment the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month may pass with little mention. So I have re-written here the story of just one boy who never came home from the Great War.

With the drought ever deepening I know that many families are facing ruin this summer and will be forced off the land. Many have been there for generations but many of their sons and daughters have already left to seek a more certain future. It is never easy leaving the land and the ultimate pain is the clearing sale when the place itself has gone. I know that pain but one has to try and look on the light side.

No. I will not be voting for the Liberals or Nationals in the next election. I cannot abide cruelty to animals. It would take courage to act against the big interests that run this abominable trade and this Government does not have what it takes. But does Labor? Probably not, so I probably won’t be voting for them either.

"Since 1980, the multi million dollar live animal export industry has come under increasing pressure from animal welfare groups, and on 26 February the Federal Government suspended the live trade to Egypt on animal welfare grounds." Jenny Hume