Janelle Saffin (Page, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I have with me four different types of petitions all dealing with live animal export. They were given to me to bring to the parliament. They went before the Petitions Committee. I got a notice back that they were not in the proper order. I want to do justice to the people who put their signatures on them so I shall talk to them.

There are three different petitions from three different sources but with hundreds of signatures calling for live export to be banned outright. Then there is another petition which states:

We demand government take the needs of animals, farmers, meatworkers and Australian jobs seriously by supporting the local slaughter industry and chilled/frozen meat export.

I will speak to the last point. I have just come from a forum in this place from WSPA, the World Society for the Protection of Animals. They were handing over a petition along the same lines, talking about banning live export and phasing it out. They had a meat processor with them, a plant operator whose name if I remember correctly was Peter Cody, from Western Australia. He was talking about the issue and the idea that the live export industry has grown up at the expense of the domestic meat industry. I said, 'That is an idea that we need to test and I want that tested in this place.' It is an idea that I have taken up in my local area, where I have a large meat-processing industry as well, Northern Cooperative Meat. That is what they were talking about. It is always the plea from the locals.

We have heard the debate that has taken place on live export recently. I know that all members in this place have been overwhelmed with emails and with commentary. It was an issue that really ignited people right across electorates with an outpouring of feeling. I live in an electorate that is rural and it has a very strong and viable agricultural industry and beef and dairy. I am conscious that it is not in live export but in that sector. In my seat the overwhelming feeling of people was that, whilst this industry exists, we have to do this in a humane way and animal welfare has to be the primary goal. Secondly, a lot of people want it phased out.

I have had a few private member's motions before the House over the last parliament and this parliament. One of them was quite lengthy. It talks about that and it talks about a renewed consideration. (Time expired)

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