PUBLISHED ON: 9 June 2011

But the campaign is not won yet. We urgently need your help to keep the pressure on politicians to stop this trade that has knowingly sent millions of animals to brutal fates in Indonesia and throughout the Middle East.

On 20th June, Tasmanian MP, Andrew Wilkie and SA Senator, Nick Xenophon and Greens MP Adam Bandt submitted bills to Parliament that would end all live animal exports. If passed this legislation would ensure that the images of Australian animals being tortured in foreign slaughterhouses that aired on Four Corners, and that has been exposed countless times in the Middle East, will never be repeated. These bills represent the animals' greatest chance for an end to this indefensible trade.

It is critical in the coming weeks that federal MPs and state Senators across Australia hear loud and clear that the Australian public will not settle for a band-aid solution and will not accept anything less than a total ban.

When issues fall out of the public spotlight, it is easy for politicians not to feel the pressure to act. Please help us remind politicians this issue is not going away until this trade in cruelty is stopped. Join us and thousands of Australians to take action urging MPs and Senators across Australia to ban live animal exports once and for all!

Note: If you don't live in Australia, you can still support the campaign. Click here to send a message to Prime Minister Julia Gillard, urging her to ban live animal export.

Lobbying Checklist to Ban Live Export

E-mail

• Click here to send an instant online message to your local federal MP and state's Senators urging them to support the bills to ban live export.
• Shoot a quick letter to the editor of your local paper too to let them know how you feel about live exports.

Paper mail

Politicians place greater importance on written letters from their constituents than they do emails. Add weight to your call for a ban:

• Write a paper mail letter to your local federal MP. Click here to find their details.
• Send snail mail letters to your state Senators. Click here to find their details.

Phone

You can really hammer home the message that Australians want an end to this cruel trade by also ringing your elected representatives' offices and urging them to support the bills to ban the trade.

• Click here to find your federal MP's office number.
• Don't let your state Senators off the hook. Click here to find the numbers for your state Senators' offices.

Multiply your impact

The vast majority of Australians are appalled by live animal export. But not everyone will be proactive enough to let their local federal MP know how they feel. That's why we've made it as easy as possible for everyone to show their support for a ban!

• Click here to download a form letter that people can sign directed to their federal MP.
• Make as many copies as you need and start getting people to fill them in!
• Once you've gathered as many signed letters of support as you can, find the appropriate MPs' details here and send them in, or you could deliver them in person. (Or else download the relevant list of state MPs here to print out and use for reference whilst collecting: http://animalsaustralia.org/action/documents/MPs)

The more letters you can get signed and sent in, the louder the call for a ban will be! Here are a few suggestions for how you can gather letters:

• Get your friends and family to sign.
• Take a few form letters to work and ask your colleagues to fill them out.
• See if some local businesses would be happy to place them on their counter and help gain support.
• Door knock in your area to get signatures.
• Take to the streets with a friend to ask people to complete a form letter to support the campaign.

Resources

• Download the live export factsheet