Issues of animal protection continue to command significant attention in a crowded national policy and political agenda. The harm experienced by animals exported live to south-east Asia and the Middle East is regularly highlighted in investigative exposés, most recently in April of this year when 60 Minutes screened undercover footage from an export ship transporting sheep to the Middle East. This footage was the first obtained from a ship in transit, and the horrific scenes garnered worldwide attention. An exposé a few years earlier, concerning the killing of Australian cattle in Indonesian abattoirs, had so shocked Australians that tens of thousands rallied around the country, calling for an end to live export. Reviews were conducted and ‘reforms’ implemented. The story also prompted a temporary ban on live export to Indonesia, prompting disaffected cattle farmers to commence class action litigation in the Federal Court of Australia against the then minister, a matter still to be resolved (see Brett Cattle Company Pty Ltd v Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries & Forestry, NSD1102/2014, 27 October 2014). Despite the unceasing examples of the harms imposed on exported animals, the current federal government has ruled out a phased end to the trade.