Calls for a ban on the live cattle export of Australian animals raised for meat were made again following the showing of a video that proved brutal and inhumane way that Aussie cattle were culled. The video, secretly made by a journalist, showed the slaughterhouse workers used electric prods on the cows' eyes, genitals and anus.

In seeking the prohibition of live animal export, Tasmanian independent MP Andrew Wilkie said the video is a mockery of the Australian government's efforts to clean up the industry. He insisted the trade is not supported by the public and not in Australia's interest.

"It's way beyond time for the government to stop kowtowing to the industry and instead to start caring about animal welfare and public opinion. Effective safeguards must be put in place immediately and the trade stopped as soon as possible," Mr Wilkie said in a statement.

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, RSPCA and National Farmers' Federation condemned the brutal way Australian cattle were treated by the Israeli abattoir workers.

"No amount of independent auditing or calm words from the minister can mend a system that is fundamentally flawed. Australia must make the transition away from live exports as soon as possible," Senator Lee Rhiannon, the animal welfare spokesperson of the Australian Greens, said in a statement.

The Greens are proposing that the live trade by replaced by a domestic industry that would process and package meat for export at new plants in northern Australia.

Besides the poking of sensitive body parts of the cow, workers drag the injured animal by a front leg using a forklift, disclosed Ronen Bar, the journalist who went undercover for 19 days at Bakar Tnava, Israel's largest abattoir.

The animal abuse in Israel is the latest encountered by Australia, just a few weeks after similar brutal treatment was done by Pakistani authorities on 21,000 live imported Australian sheep suspected of being diseased, and a few months ago in Indonesia, also proven by secret video shots of bad slaughterhouse conditions and practices below standards.

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