NAOMI LEVIN

FEDERAL and state agriculture ministers have agreed that current ritual slaughter practices could continue.

Ritual slaughter, including shechitah -– slaughtering meat for kosher consumption-– was under review by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.

Animal welfare groups had expressed concerns about the humanity of shechitah, which, unlike general slaughtering, does not permit animals to be stunned unconscious before slaughter.

The Executive Council of Australia Jewry (ECAJ) and the Organisation of Rabbis of Australasia (ORA) petitioned Agriculture Minister Tony Burke to maintain the status quo.

That status quo saw shochets (ritual slaughterers) exempt from stunning cattle before killing them with a knife, and exempt from stunning lambs both before and after slaughter, in line with halachah.

Jewish representatives held a meeting with Burke’s chief of staff before the ministers’ meeting earlier this month to stake the community’s claim.

Any change to slaughter regulations or moves to withdraw the Jewish community’s exemption would have jeopardised both local consumption and meat export, according to ECAJ president Robert Goot.

Goot called the result of the ministers’ meeting a “great outcome”.

“It is very gratifying,” he said. “For the ECAJ and ORA – which have been making submissions [on this topic] for more than a year -– this is very satisfying.”

Meanwhile, a statement from Burke’s office declared it was the role of all governments to “promote the most humane practices, within the spectrum of faiths in Australia”.

Moreover, it was noted that the Primary Industries Standing Committee would continue to consult with religious organisations, meat processors, regulators and animal welfare groups.