A few supporters, including myself have received the following letter from Greens Minister Shane Rattenbury's secretary. As you will see it is a good letter and it sounds promising that Shane will not give in. However it is in relation to animals here and pre stunning, not Live Export. I personally think, while it is good to target the Greens, we need to target Ministers etc, who are for Live Export. We need to try and pressure them into having a conscience (a huge battle), but they are the ones who need to change. We will keep emailing all of those on the previous list, but I will keep adding more and more people to send these emails to. If anyone has time, I'd suggest hand writing the letters and posting them. I think maybe if it is hand written and sent by snail mail, it just might get seen by the recipient and not their secretary. New emails are ready, it I'll give it a bit longer before emailing them out. Thank you for all of the support, I receive a lot of individual emails, I do try to reply to everyone, if I have missed you, please forgive me. Thank you for contacting ACT Greens Minister Shane Rattenbury about the killing of livestock without pre-stunning at some Australian abattoirs. The Greens are unequivocal that all Australian abattoirs should be required to pre-stun livestock before slaughter, and it seems Islamic religious leaders in Australia largely agree that electric stunning livestock does meet halal requirements to not injure the animal prior to slaughter. However, as you are aware, there are a number of abattoirs in Australia that are exempt from the Australian Code of Practice requirement to pre-stun animals, with Queensland the only state to have specifically banned non-stunning pre-slaughter. This is an anomaly that should not exist in Australia, and the Greens are working with animal welfare groups pushing for mandatory pre-stunning at all abattoirs where Australian livestock are slaughtered, in Australia and overseas. Australian Greens spokesperson on Animal Welfare, Senator Lee Rhiannon has raised the issue in Federal Parliament and in the media, and will continue campaigning for more humane treatment of animals in Australia. Greens at state level are also working towards this end. As a former Minister for Primary Industries, Minister Rattenbury was able to attend COAG meetings of Primary Industry Ministers and to advocate for animal welfare positions. Unfortunately with the election of the Abbott-Turnbull Federal Government, the Federal Minister for Agriculture, the Hon. Barnaby Joyce MP specifically removed animal welfare from the national Agriculture Ministers’ meeting agenda. You can contact his office here to let him know how you feel about this issue. You can also read more about the Australian Greens work in Animal Welfare policy here. The ACT Greens have achieved a lot in animal welfare, including banning battery hens and sow stalls and regulating sales of companion animals. Thank you again for contacting the Greens. Your voice is an important part of changing the inhumane practices visited on animals in Australia. Kind regards Logan McLennan | Office of Shane Rattenbury MLA Minister for Territory and Municipal Services; Sport and Recreation; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs; and Corrective Services. ACT Greens Member for Molonglo t: 6205 0005 | f: 6205 0007 | logan.mclennan@act.gov.au |