John Cobb (Calare, National Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Food Security) Share this | Hansard source

I apologise. This decision to ignore our biggest, most important and most populous neighbour and to totally ignore the normal diplomatic relations is the worst decision ever made by government. I am sure the member for Griffith, had he been asked, would have informed both the Prime Minister and the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry as to what should have been done, but they were not interested. I wonder did they even stop to think of the relationship with those who take our cattle. We are talking about 25 per cent of Indonesia's beef intake. We are talking about 100 per cent of Northern Australia's beef output. It is unfathomable that a government could act in this way without talking to our most important neighbour.

Why can the government not resume the live trade to the abattoirs which have been shown to be doing the right thing? Why did they ever stop the trade? The resumption of the live trade lies in the Prime Minister's fumbling hands. This has gone on long enough. The Indonesian government, to its credit—I was amazed and surprised when I was in Indonesia with Senator Scullion—has lifted itself above the name-calling or the recriminations in which I believe it would be quite entitled to indulge. Why would Indonesia issue permits while we have a ban in place? The ball is firmly in the court of the Gillard government. It is in their hands as it stands now.

Why would Indonesia issue permits when there is a ban in place?

Every day that goes by there is an unfolding economic, environmental, social and animal welfare crisis in Northern Australia of monumental proportions. One station has a destocking order to reduce its number by 6,000 this year because in Northern Australia they do not hold stock beyond an age, they are used to knowing how many they are going to have, getting them on the boat and getting them off the land. It has 2,000 head which they have to remove because otherwise it would create much bigger animal welfare issues due to overgrazing. The cattleman believes that from tomorrow he will have to start destroying 200 head a day. These cattle are his livelihood and worth conservatively $120,000, which he has to destroy per day. I own cattle. I once had to shoot sheep because of drought and age and I do not think I could do it again, let alone cattle in the prime of their life worth a lot of money. It is beyond believable. This is devastating for him and anyone who has ever had to raise cattle.

It is a disgrace that a government so inept, so uncaring and so cruel is causing cruelty to humans and cruelty to animals—because that is what is on the horizon. There are 82 Indigenous stations and a community of some 17,000, depending on the scale and it is an enormous scale. These are people who are proud of the fact that they are the best stockmen in Australia; they are proud of the fact that they look after Australia's pastoral regions. I implore the Prime Minister and this government to revoke the ban.

There is in front of us a very short window of time in which to get this trade up and running again. The government have committed that they want to see it get going again. Well, if they wait much longer it will not get going again before the wet season comes back to us. If that is what they want, then they are going the long way about it towards achieving it. The handling of this has been absolutely abominable. I cannot think of what could have possessed them to act without thinking. As I said, if no-one advised them as to what the repercussions were and are, then they should be totally sacked.

I want to talk about the cattle industry for a minute. Those of us who own cattle are very proud of our industry. We are proud of what we do and the way in which we do it and we are very proud of our cattle—no-one more so than the people who do it hardest in the north of this country, whether it is in WA, whether it is in the Territory or whether it is in Queensland. None of us who own cattle or work with cattle or have anything to do with cattle will stand for cruelty, but this continued ban promotes animal cruelty, promotes environmental devastation, promotes human devastation and promotes absolute economic madness. For how long must regional Australia be a plaything of Gillard and the Greens? What has happened to our country? Consider the ancestors of the people who created it and who set the mantra of the way in which Australia is perceived as a mob of pioneers. I ask because the people who raise these cattle are the closest to it. What has happened to the people who set Australia up to be what it is and simply want to get on with their living and want to help the Aboriginal and Indigenous communities do the same? What has happened that we cease to matter? I again stress that if the department of agriculture did not inform Minister Ludwig of the repercussions and of the disaster for Australia that is resulting and will result from this ban, heads should roll. If Ludwig failed to advise the Prime Minister, he should be sacked. If Julia Gillard ignored that advice—

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