![WA farmer Bruce Harvey is another who has voiced concern over the Federal government's decision to ban live sheep exports by sea. WA farmer Bruce Harvey is another who has voiced concern over the Federal government's decision to ban live sheep exports by sea.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/33nFNZ38FxtadDLYqv8sNRP/410e3ad8-1286-4199-9d3a-7091a17e8bd4.jpg/r0_628_6016_4010_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The ban on live sheep exports proposed by the Labor Party is an act of sheer bastardry that must be repudiated by the sheep industry.
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Protest rallies will not be effective.
If the Labor Party is still in power as the 2028 deadline approaches, sheep producers will face the choice of watching their great industry, which was once feted as carrying Australia on its back, wither away, or taking direct action which the Labor Party will understand.
Farmers present as individuals and strike action would normally be viewed as anathema to them, however implementing this appalling decision would justify a drastic response, such as a complete one-year ban on lamb production.
An action such as this would take many months of planning, and although wheat and sheep farmers would be able to crop more land to offset losses and ewes would grow more wool if not rearing a lamb, farmers on non-arable land would need to be compensated.
This type of proposal is the exact opposite to what I would normally support but, farming is no different to other industries.
If it becomes unprofitable, it will cease to operate.
One year's upheaval could well mean the sheep industry's salvation.