The Turnbull government has pulled a bill applying more regulation to the live sheep trade after the Liberal MP Sussan Ley signalled she would vote for a Labor amendment applying a ban on exports.
The government was due to bring forward its legislation applying tougher regulations to the scandal-prone industry, but yanked the bill on Thursday morning after Ley signalled to government colleagues she would cross the floor.
The Turnbull government has rejected a ban on live exports in favour of rules to increase space allocated to sheep on ships by 39%, improve ventilation and increase penalties for directors who flout the standards.
Ley is pursuing a private member’s bill to ban live sheep exports in the northern summer from next year, and in five years totally ban the transport of sheep and lambs to the Middle East or to any routes through the Persian Gulf or Red Sea.
The opposition spokesman on agriculture, Joel Fitzgibbon, telegraphed on Wednesday night that he intended to move amendments to the government bill mirroring the Ley private member’s bill.
The procedural tactic would have allowed the Ley proposal to be debated without having to secure the numbers on the floor to bring on the private member’s bill.
Government sources have told Guardian Australia Ley told government colleagues on Thursday morning she intended to vote for the Labor amendment if the bill reached the floor, given the alternative would have meant voting down her own bill.
The bill was pulled on Thursday morning. It is understood the government was worried about numbers on the floor with several absences this week.
Four government MPs are absent, as is Bob Katter, the Queensland crossbencher.
After the legislation was pulled, the Nationals deputy leader, Bridget McKenzie, gave Ley an unsubtle public hint to pull her head in.
Ley’s efforts with the private member’s bill are directed at trying to change the Liberal party policy on live sheep exports. Nationals have dug in to defend the trade.
“There is a lot of product coming out of Sussan Ley’s seat in Farrer that goes to markets around the world – beautiful clean green produce – and anything that undermines our reputation as a trading nation … simply undermines the exporters in her own electorate,” McKenzie told Sky News.
Fitzgibbon excoriated the withdrawal of the bill.
“The actions taken today clearly show that Malcolm Turnbull is running scared that he does not have the confidence of his party to stop Labor’s amendment,” he said.
“Yesterday I foreshadowed that Labor will move an amendment to the bill to incorporate a mirror copy of the Sussan Ley private member’s bill to phase out the live sheep export trade over five years.
“This amendment to the bill would have brought the vote on quicker and given it a better chance of passing the House with a simple majority, reflecting the true will of the parliament: to phase out cruelty in the live sheep export trade.
“After all the feigned anger over the Awassi Express incident, the prime minister is now putting his own political survival ahead of animal welfare standards.”
The agriculture minister, David Littleproud, returned fire: “Labor said it would be bipartisan on live exports, but at the first opportunity it aims to create a pointless war and stop us penalising live exporters who do the wrong thing.”
Ley’s private member’s bill is sponsored by Liberal colleagues Sarah Henderson and Jason Wood.
Henderson is not in Canberra because she is unwell.
Wood told Guardian Australia he would not have voted for the Labor amendment, and he criticised Fitzgibbon for “playing games”.
The Victorian Liberal MP said he was talking to Littleproud about getting immediate improvements to animal welfare in live sheep shipments.
“My big focus at the moment is working with the RSPCA to get independent vets on the ships,” Wood said on Thursday.
“My goal is to end the cruelty and I want to work within the government to end the cruelty. I’m talking about getting independent vets on ships as soon as possible”.
