18/11/2024
Despite significant media attention around livestock exports in the past year – or perhaps because of it – public confidence in the industry has increased in the latest national survey.
In a project spanning six years, Voconiq has collected the most authoritative and comprehensive dataset on Australian attitudes toward the livestock export industry, funded by the research bodies for livestock exporters and producers, LiveCorp and Meat & Livestock Australia.
There was national media coverage of the industry at the time the latest (anchor) survey was in the field, due to shipping disruptions amid tensions in the Middle East. To see whether the publicity had a lasting impact, a smaller (pulse) survey was carried out. This coincided with national coverage around the future of live sheep exports by sea.
Voconiq CEO Kieren Moffat says one of the key findings was a significant jump in the number of people wanting to know more about live exports.
“We introduced new questions in 2024 to examine where people got most of their information about the industry, how much they trusted that information, and whether it affected their views,” Dr Moffat said.
“Between the two surveys, the number of people reporting that they were actively seeking out information about live exports increased considerably. Australians also overwhelmingly signalled they want a more balanced accounting of live export issues from the media.”
Key focus areas in the series of surveys are the extent to which the Australian community has trust in, and accepts, livestock exports.
“Positive sentiment toward the industry has been growing since the first survey in 2019. While both trust and acceptance dipped in the anchor survey, they rebounded in the pulse survey to the highest levels seen in this program of work,” Dr Moffat said.
“In every survey, participants have been asked about the relative costs and benefits of live exports. This also reached its highest ever level in the 2024 pulse survey, with 76% agreeing that the benefits either outweigh (41%), or are equal to (35%), the costs.”
Animal welfare remains one of the key drivers of trust and acceptance of the industry, and Dr Moffat says there were mixed results on a range of questions, with participants acknowledging it is a complex issue.
“There continues to be strong recognition of the importance of the industry to communities overseas, including their access to safe meat and better nutrition,” Dr Moffat said.
LiveCorp CEO Wayne Collier said the results show the Australian community thinks about livestock exports very differently to the way it is portrayed by many, particularly on social media.
“It’s really pleasing to see that people are open to learning more about the industry and its performance, and, interestingly, the survey results suggest that people are more positive once they do know more,” Mr Collier said.
“This research is being conducted to help us understand not just what people think, but what’s driving that sentiment. The latest surveys show many in the community are up for a more nuanced conversation about what we’re doing in response to their questions and concerns.”
The report Live Exports and the Australian Community 2024 is available here.
Two surveys were conducted in 2024. Responses were collected via an online research panel of Australians over the age of 18, matched to Australian Bureau of Statistics population data by location, age and gender. People were not told of the topic until after agreeing to participate.
The ‘anchor’ survey was conducted from 2 February to 26 February 2024. Out of 5,800 completed surveys, 5,597 were analysed after data cleaning. The subsequent pulse survey was conducted from 13 June to 28 June 2024. Out of 1,284 surveys completed, a sample of 978 was analysed after data cleaning.