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griculture Minister Suswono said in Jakarta on Tuesday that the Australian government’s decision to suspend live cattle exports to Indonesia without prior consultation was regrettable.

Speaking to reporters at his ministry, Suswono said he understood the Australian government was under pressure to suspend live cow exports to Indonesia following the revelation of cruel treatment of the animals in several slaughterhouses in the country.

However, he said, the Australian government should have first discussed the problem with Indonesia.

Suswono said the Australian government was never bothered about slaughterhouse standards in Indonesia before the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on May 30 broadcast footage from Indonesian slaughterhouses.

Suswono said Australia identified 12 abattoirs in Indonesia as having “inappropriate” standards of slaughter. “However, two of the abattoirs on the list, in West Nusa Tenggara, did not process cattle from Australia, and one in Lampung has been shut down for a while,” he said.

“The Australian government should have first communicated with our government for clarification,” Suswono repeated.

He acknowledged that practices at some slaughterhouses, especially the smaller ones, may involve animal cruelty, but added that this was not common practice among the existing abattoirs in the country.

Deputy Agriculture Minister Bayu Krisnamurthi said earlier that the Australian government’s decision could represent discrimination and violated fair trade principles under the World Trade Organization (WTO).

However, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard insisted that the export suspension complied with world trade rules. “What we have done does not breach WTO rules, “she told ABC as reported by Agence France-Presse.

Gillard, who is also under pressure at home to compensate cattle farmers for the lost trade estimated to be in excess of US$1.05 billion, said her government had
warned the cattle industry as early as January that animal welfare concerns had to be addressed, and neither of the responses provided in March and May had been “up to standard”.

Despite the dispute, Suswono said that both Indonesia and Australia had agreed to conduct a study to formulate common standards of cattle slaughter.

Indonesia should not worry about the ban, he added, because Indonesia’s live cattle stock would be sufficient until September this year.

“We will import cattle from other countries, such as Mexico if needed after September,” he said. — JP/msa