![A file photo of the Awassi Express. A file photo of the Awassi Express.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/38U3JBx5nNussShT8aZyYjc/23a21627-4a06-4f16-8df3-d9dfe0da06ef.jpeg/r0_265_5184_3191_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Cash for cruelty accusations against extreme animal rights lobbyists have flared up as part of the parliamentary inquiry into the bill for ending the live sheep trade.
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However, it appears efforts to bring the claims into the wider public domain won't be successful with attempts to table statutory declarations and bank account details curtailed.
The Albanese Government's phase-out of the live sheep trade, initially an election promise, emerged largely from the airing of 'whistleblower' footage of distressed sheep on the Awassi Express vessel in 2017.
Confidential documents suggesting Animals Australia paid US$107,710 to the whistleblower for the footage, and claims from another crew member that conditions were deliberately created to cause the sheep distress, have been published in national media since.
Two people - Casey MP Aaron Violi and WA Farmers president John Hassell - tried to have statutory declarations backing those revelations admitted as evidence to the inquiry.
The House Standing Committee on Agriculture is conducting the inquiry into the Export Control Amendment (Ending Live Sheep Exports by Sea) Bill 2024, with a report due today.
Committee chair Meryl Swanson refused to accept Mr Violi's evidence, saying it was new information that the committee had not had a chance to consider and it was very late notice.
Instead of discussing the documents during the public hearing, she organised for a private meeting to be held after the first day of scheduled proceedings.
Mr Violi said the point of the inquiry was to put all the evidence on the table.
Mr Hassell also attempted to have a statutory declaration from a shipboard crew member accepted as part of his submission to the inquiry, along with financial documents relating to Animals Australia transactions.
He has written directly to the committee secretariat asking whether it will be accepted as evidence but has not received a reply.
Mr Hassell told ACM Agri that considering the phase-out bill was based on events on the Awassi Express, it was pertinent to consider evidence suggesting the footage was deliberately contrived in order to obtain a financial payment.
He said if these documents were not considered as evidence in this inquiry, it was further proof a senate inquiry on the issue was necessary "so it's not just rushed through in a dirty little push without examining what is happening properly".
A submission from the Northern Territory Cattlemen's Association also referred to cash-for-cruelty claims.
It said when allegations that the whistleblower who provided the footage to Animals Australia had been paid were aired by politician Barnaby Joyce in parliament under privilege, AA promptly denied that they paid for the footage.
Mainstream media has since run claims from another crew member that not only was the footage paid for but those who received money offered to assist in creating circumstances that would produce adverse animal welfare outcomes, the NTCA submission said.
Mr Hassell said not making a genuine attempt to investigate that claim could be called a "cover-up".