Morrissey just wrapped up a tour in Australia, and he ended things in the most Morrissey way possible: By grandstanding about the country’s livestock-treatment policies! Around the same time as he played the Australian city of Newcastle, Morrissey released a statement through PETA, addressing Australian deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce and blasting Australia’s practice of exporting live animals to the Middle East and Asia. Here’s what Morrissey writes:

Dear Minister,

The horrific cruelty in the live-export industry is heavy enough to sink a ship, yet you insist on condemning millions of animals to this fate every year. You can deny it until you are red(der) in the face, but the industry is dying. Live exporter Elders is shutting down its long-haul trade, and exports of both cattle and sheep are slipping.

Your recent dismissal of the need for an animal-welfare department in your office shows that you are currently on the wrong side of history. If meat is murder, live export is the slow boat to hell. Please pave the way towards a kinder future by putting the live-export industry out of its misery immediately.

Yours sincerely,

Morrissey

As The Guardian reports, Deputy Prime Minister Joyce has already responded on Twitter:

Record cattle prices for families in regional Australia – sorry I don’t cut it at Splendour in the Grass, but I accept that.

— Barnaby Joyce (@Barnaby_Joyce) October 31, 2016

Mightn’t be a big fan of The Smiths, but I am a great fan of families in WA, NT & FNQ who rely on our $2bn live export industry.

— Barnaby Joyce (@Barnaby_Joyce) October 31, 2016

“Mightn’t be a big fan of The Smiths” is some cold shit, Barnaby Joyce.