Australia gets closer to banning domestic ivory trade

Australia is holding public hearings on potentially banning the domestic trade of ivory and rhino horns.

The country is under intense pressure after the UK proposed one of the most stringent ivory laws; the U.S. and China have also imposed a similar ban shutting down ivory trading.

A parliamentary committee was formed in April to investigate whether Australia’s ivory trade is leading to the massive poaching of African elephants.

The country currently bans the international trade of ivory procured before 1975, following the recommendation from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), however there is no ban in place for domestic trading.

Poachers and smugglers are exploiting loopholes in the pre-convention ivory rule to import and export new ivory pieces, boosting illegal trade. Ascertaining the age of ivory pieces also further complicates enforcement of the ban both in the physical and online market.

“Currently, there are no legal requirements on sellers, auctioneers or electronic marketplaces to provide evidence at the point of sale which demonstrates the legal importation, provenance, or age of an elephant or rhino specimen,” the parliamentary committee maintained.

Law enforcement agencies in the last decade have confiscated around 320 imported and 79 exported ivory pieces. International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) in an undercover investigation in 2016 discovered the massive sale of ivory and rhino horns by Australian and New Zealand based auction houses.


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