Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I withdraw. They want to blame the religion and they want to blame the people that brought the video footage to people's attention, but they do not want to stand up and face up to the fact that they are partly to blame for this. They were the ones that set up MLA, they were the ones that set up self-regulation and they were the ones that set this industry up for failure. During the whole 11 dark years of the Howard government, they did nothing—they closed their eyes and hoped that it would go away, but they did not do anything. What did you do when there was an issue with the live export of sheep to Saudi Arabia back in 2003? What did the government do? I know the member for Bennelong, who is in the chamber, would not have a clue, but what they did was impose a blanket ban, a straight two-year blanket ban. You put the live sheep industry at risk for two years with a blanket ban—not a temporary ban until the problem was sorted out.

We are trying to do the right thing by the industry by giving them the chance to go forward, giving them the chance to continue for the long term. Do you remember, when there was a problem with poor handling of cattle in our exports to Egypt in 2006, who was the minister at the time who imposed the blanket ban? I know the member for Bennelong would not have a clue, but it was Minister McGauran of the Nationals. He is the one who put the suspension in place in 2006, a suspension that was not lifted until 2008.

They sit there and make this feigned outcry: 'Oh, the poor industry!' But when you actually have a look at their history, when you look at what they have done over time, you see that they have actually put this industry more at risk than anyone else. So it is up to us, the Gillard government, to sort it, to fix it and to get it back on track. That is what we are doing. The member for Bennelong laughs but that simply beggars belief. You have no idea what you are laughing about.

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