Labor celebrated the demise of Australia's live sheep trade with a photo taken on the back of a truck, in landlocked central Victoria, 11 years ago.
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The image has been used repeatedly by animal activist and advocate groups worldwide since 2013 until this week in materials calling for an end to the live sheep by sea trade.
The post was to announce the "breaking" news that "the Albanese Government's commitment to end live sheep exports by sea is now law", adding that "live sheep exports by sea have been plummeting for years, along with community support due to serious animal welfare concerns".
Agriculture Minister Murray Watt, one of several prolific social media users in the Albanese ministry, added comment from his personal account that "Labor made this an election commitment and now we've delivered".
ACM Agri tracked the photograph to the website of Canadian-based animal photojournalism agency We Animals Media under the heading of "Sheep arriving at the saleyards. Ballarat, Australia, 2013".
The image description states that "at the time of this shoot, an estimated 32,000 sheep were transported to, bought, and sold at the Ballarat Sale Yards each day".
"During the daylong shoot, photographer Jo-Anne McArthur documented the animals being loaded, unloaded, and then loaded again to and from transport trucks, which would then take them to slaughter, to a new farm, or to ships where they would undergo a long journey overseas," it said.
The photograph can be downloaded for free if for non-commercial use or for a fee if for a commercial use.
It is unknown if it was downloaded by a Labor represenative or handed to party or government officials by an organisation or individual who had previously obtained the image.
An internet search discovered that the photograph has been used to excess by animal welfare groups to protest the live sheep by sea trade, including an Animal Justice Party web page featuring a petition to be sent to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Mr Watt calling for an expedited end to the trade.
The connection is somewhat interesting given AJP leader Louise Pfeiffer claimed on social media that the minor party delivered the "knockout blow" to the industry by demanding the end of live sheep exports as a requirement for giving its preferences to Labor at the Dunkley by-election in Melbourne in March.
The photo was also the only image used on the AJP's page linking to its submission guide to "phase out of live sheep exports by sea" as well as Instagram posts to promote public protests against live sheep exports.
Meanwhile, the World Animal Protection Agency has also used the image, as well as the Animal Save Movement (August 2021) amongst others.
Animals Australia (below) used it as a thumbnail to point to a June 2021 AA story about "gut-wrenching scenes" taken during the Festival of Sacrifice - "a lucrative time for Australia's live export industry".
"It's also a peak time of animal suffering, with exporters supplying hundreds of thousands of animals for sale and slaughter across the Middle East and North Africa," the website read.
The situation is likely to raise suspicions over how animal activist organisations may use stock, or generic images, to dress up some of its campaign materials and that those files may have little or no actual link to a campaign or issue being protested against.
Labor's use of an image recycled from the animal activist sector is sure to draw the ire of the agriculture industry who criticised the government for not producing recent scientific data to justify its live sheep trade ban.
By the numbers it is far less likely the sheep being unloaded at the sale yards in 2013 were destined for live export than local processing.
According to the Victorian Department of Economic Development 2014 industry overview, live sheep exports from Victoria in 2013-14 accounted for just 1.3 per cent of the Victorian sheep flock.
In 2013-14 exports were 186,033 head, worth $18.78.
"This was a fall in exported sheep numbers of approximately six per cent compared with the previous year's exports of 198,149 head," it said.
"Victoria contributed around 9 per cent of Australia's live sheep exports in 2013-1420. Major markets for Victorian live sheep exports are Qatar, Kuwait and United Arab Emirates, with Portland or Geelong the ports of shipment."
The photo credit for file photo WAM9935 is listed as Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals Media.
Ms McArthur is the founder of WAM and an award-winning Canadian photojournalist.
Global animal welfare giant PETA, or People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, have used the image repeatedly for several years across different continents, including for a June 2020 story titled "The Long Road to Slaughter: Live Animal Export".
It has also been used by welfare organisations for a range of sheep-related topics, including in April to announce a Four Paws animal rights delegation to discuss a national transport ban of sheep to third countries with the German government.
A different photograph apparently from the 2013 Ballarat collection (image below) was published by Four Paws in April to herald the looming ban on live sheep exports by sea from Australia.
