Indonesia is Australia's largest export market for live cattle
The Greens and some independent MPs, whose support is crucial to the minority Labor government, want the trade with Indonesia to be banned.
The country is Australia's largest export market for live cattle.
"I have decided to halt the trade of live animals to the facilities identified by the footage," said Australia's Agriculture Minister, Senator Joe Ludwig.
"Further, I will appoint an independent reviewer to investigate the complete supply chain for live exports up to and including the point of slaughter.
"I reserve the right to add further facilities to the banned list, if required."
He also issued an immediate moratorium on the animal restraint boxes that are used during the shipment of the cattle.
Shocking insight At four Indonesian abbatoirs, steers were shown being whipped, kicked, slashed with knives and banging their heads against concrete floors.
One official from the animal welfare group, the RSPCA, said some steers might still have been conscious when they were dismembered.
The BBC's Sydney correspondent, Nick Bryant, says that many viewers who saw the gruesome footage broadcast on ABC's Four Corners programme said they were physically sick at the sight of Australian cattle being treated so cruelly.
The Greens and some independent MPs want the government to go further.
One Independent MP, Andrew Wilkie, said he would immediately introduce a bill to ban the live export of cattle to Indonesia completely.
"We have cattle going to Indonesia which are being mistreated by numerous slaughterhouses on a scale that proves it is a systemic problem, not only in Indonesia... but it's a systemic problem in Australia's whole live export industry," Mr Wilkie told reporters.
The Australian live export industry has shipped more than 6.5m cattle to Indonesia for slaughter over the last 20 years.
It has suspended the supply of animals to three of the four abbatoirs featured in the programme.
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