Seven years after Australia’s government promised to shut down the domestic trade in elephant ivory and rhinoceros horn, new polling suggests the public has neither forgotten the pledge nor moved on from wanting it delivered. For travellers who care where their conservation dollars and attention go, the findings offer a clear signal that closing this loophole remains a live and widely supported issue, not a settled one.
New YouGov polling released on World Elephant Day found that 95 per cent of Australian voters want the federal government to follow through on its 2019 commitment to ban the domestic ivory and rhino horn trade, a promise made after a parliamentary inquiry recommended stronger action. The poll was commissioned by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), Humane World for Animals Australia and Born Free Foundation.
A promise still waiting to be kept
Australia already prohibits international commercial trade in elephant ivory and rhino horn, in line with global agreements. But domestic markets, where ivory and horn already within the country can still be bought and sold, remain a loophole that conservation groups say undermines that international ban. Trafficked ivory can enter legitimate domestic markets, demand is sustained rather than curbed, and the incentive for illegal killing continues.
‘An elephant never forgets, and neither should our government,’ said IFAW program officer Neree Pateman. ‘Australians haven’t forgotten this promise, and the polling shows they overwhelmingly want it delivered.’ Pateman noted that in the seven years since Australia’s commitment, other countries including China, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, France and Singapore have moved to close their own domestic markets, while elephants and rhinos have continued to face sustained pressure from poaching and trafficking.
What the polling shows
The YouGov survey of 1,503 Australian voters, conducted between 14 and 21 July 2026, found 97 per cent consider it important for Australia to introduce the ban, with 59 per cent describing it as extremely important. Perhaps more telling, 95 per cent of those surveyed already believe, or simply assume, that buying and selling elephant ivory and rhino horn within Australia is illegal. It currently is not.
‘Australians have made their views unmistakably clear,’ said Humane World for Animals Australia executive director Erica Martin. ‘The fact that 95 per cent of Australians support fulfilling this commitment, and that most already assume this trade is illegal, shows just how out of step the current situation is with community expectations.’
Why the gap matters for elephants and rhinos
For conservation-minded travellers, the significance sits less in the polling numbers themselves and more in what the ongoing domestic market represents: a legal channel that groups say still helps launder illegally sourced ivory and horn into the market, sustaining demand that drives poaching in range states across Africa and Asia. Online monitoring in 2025 found Australia’s domestic ivory and rhino horn market remains active.
‘As the poll clearly shows, this is neither a complicated nor a controversial issue,’ said Born Free Foundation senior policy advisor Gabriel Fava. ‘An extensive consultation process has already delivered a very clear message: Australia must get its house in order, in line with local expectations as well as its international obligations, if it wants to avoid playing a role in the ongoing massacre of these iconic species.’
The findings arrive as a reminder that the wildlife encounters many Australians travel to experience, from watching elephants move across a savanna to tracking rhino on a walking safari, depend on populations that remain under real pressure from trade demand, wherever that demand originates.
