Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I was responding to the last question first because I think it is very important to clear up any misapprehensions there may be about this matter. There is no technical impediment to Indonesia granting permits during the forthcoming three-month period. The course that Indonesia has adopted to date is to not issue import permits to any country. So this is not just about Australia. It has taken that decision in relation to import permits for any nation. The form of words that the member used in his question was that this definitely means that Australia will not be in that market for three months. That is not true. We are obviously working strongly with Indonesia, and with industry here at home, to get the trade up and running again.

My aim, as Prime Minister, has been to resume this trade as soon as possible, making sure that we can address the very real animal welfare issues which were exposed on the Four Corners program and which horrified Australians, including those in the cattle industry. I have had the opportunity to meet with them personally on more than one occasion and everyone that I have met has said as their first sentence to me that they do not want to see their animals treated like that and they were horrified by that footage too.

We want to get this trade up and running as soon as possible, having ensured that the animal welfare standards are appropriate. In order to do that, we need to be able to track and trace where animals from Australian farms go—that is, we need to be able to trace them from the farm, through the journey, on the boat, to the feedlot, to the abattoir—and we need to assure ourselves—

Mr John Cobb interjecting—

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