Barry Haase (Durack, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will withdraw it. I now find some of that time has been taken up when I may have been illuminating the understanding of the people of Australia. Live export is a reality. Live export is creating better conditions for the transport of cattle, sheep and goats than has ever been exercised by any other nation in the world.

The Middle East and Indonesia are not suddenly going to stop requiring wet market stock. The Middle East and Indonesia are not suddenly going to say, ‘We’ll buy frozen product,’ because they do not have the freezers, they have not got the chillers. Their customers rely on the wet market. If you are relying on the wet market, you are not going to be pulling something out of the freezer and defrosting it, it will last about four hours. That is what wet markets are about. They are about local killing of live animals to suit the culture. Rule No. 1 in any business is: know your market. If you ignore the nature of your market as a manufacturer or a primary producer, you will fail. When the market changes so will the adaptability of Australia come into play and we will change our product. Until then we need to do live export better than anyone else in the world. We need to treat animals more humanely than anyone else in the world. We need to educate the public of Australia and make them understand that if they want to live in portside situations they are going to smell and hear stock and that is realistic. If you talk about fatalities in the transportation process, stock are safer on a boat and in the transport process than they are in the paddock. Look to the stats, understand the industry and do not bring crazy motions into this House.

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