The disturbing pictures show emaciated and starving cattle sold to Indonesia as part of a program aimed at improving the country's self-reliance in beef.

Other photos show the rotting corpses of Australian animals, some with bones jutting out of their emaciated carcasses.

Warning: This story contains graphic images.

In late 2018 more than 2,500 Australian cattle, purchased by the Indonesian Government under the 2018 Indonesian Breeder Cattle Import Program, were distributed among small holder farms in Java and Sumatra to aid development.

An Australian Government-funded review of the consignment found at least 72 cattle, or 3 per cent of the cattle exported in late 2018, were dead by June.