Live ex message is getting through: Wilson

Dr Back, also a veterinarian, said it was the first time he had seen a presentation by The Livestock Collective and it was encouraging.

He said Holly Ludeman was a "young woman, with the knowledge and capacity" to communicate the message that "many" had "failed" to get across in the past.

"What you (The Livestock Collective) have achieved in a short space of time is quite remarkable and something that many of us have failed to do," Dr Back said.

"As an industry we have always put our heads in the sand - but that's not the case anymore - we can't afford to do that.

"We have to be out there telling a positive story."

Dr Back said the live export industry had three categories of people - "those who were always going to support it, the activists who will always oppose it and the vast majority of people in the middle".

The middle group was generally made up of people who were reasonable and who would value more information about from the industry.

"Australia is one of 109 countries that exports animals," Dr Back said.

"But there's only one country that has spent time, money and resources in target markets to improve animal welfare standards and that's us.

"When we lost the live trade to Saudi Arabia we also lost the meat trade.

"The number of cattle to Indonesia was halved (after the 2011 decision to ban the trade) and the tonnage of meat was also halved.

"They have always complemented each other because they are targeting different aspects of the market."

One of the biggest problems Dr Back identified was the lack of understanding among political representatives.

"In Canberra and parliament generally, we need people who know about the industry they are going to represent," Dr Back said.

He said the decision to ban the live trade to Indonesia in 2011 was judged by the Supreme Court to be an act of "misfeasance" on the part of then Labor agriculture minister Joe Ludwig.

"It's the first time I'm aware of in the Westminster system of parliament that a minister was found to be guilty of misfeasance," he said.

"I pleaded with Mr Ludwig at the time to not ban that trade to the number of abattoirs in Indonesia that were internationally compliant - but he overlooked that.

"I'm sure the coalition would have supported them if they banned the trade to non-compliant meatworks.

"Not one piece of footage was taken from an internationally-accredited meatworks.

"In his judgement, Federal Court Justice Steven Rares said while the minister had the capacity to ban the trade, he also had the capacity to grant an exemption to those abattoirs that were compliant, but he failed to do so."

Dr Back said despite the funds set aside at the time by the government to compensate for the losses "nobody could repay the angst and anger and deaths that occurred" as a result of the decision.

"Don't assume that somehow a wrong will be righted without the voice of the people - because it won't be," he said.

"We suffered an enormous amount - we had death threats.

"It was a disgraceful period of time in our history.

"Pastoralists came to Perth and took their children out of schools because their kids were being abused by teachers and students.

"They said to me 'we thought our job was to turn off top quality cattle to be exported overseas to our markets servicing an industry where people actually needed protein' - which was correct.

"Yes there are failures - failures in livestock management, on farms, feedlots, trucks, on ships and in meatworks in our target markets.

"But what other industry can you think of that where there's a failure they close up the trade?

"You don't - you find out where the failures are and you address them.

"It will be a very thoughtful minister in the future who ever puts on that sought of activity."

Dr Back encouraged sheep producers and exporters to continue to tell their positive stories and influence the government toward a better outcome for the long term prosperity of the industry.