Rick Wilson (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I have to say that I'm a little bit deflated and disappointed. I was looking forward with great anticipation to the member for Chifley's address on the Excise Levies Legislation Amendment (Sheep and Lamb) Bill 2020. I know that many of my farmers and producers are particularly interested to hear his views on the live sheep trade, as am I, given his strongly held personal view that the trade should be phased out. The Labor Party took a policy of phasing out the live export trade to the last election, and it's my understanding that they still have that policy. Unfortunately, the member for Chifley spent 90 seconds speaking on the bill, and about sheep and lamb in particular, before segueing onto the wine industry, where he obviously felt that he was on much firmer territory.

But in relation to this particular bill, it is a technical amendment to the levies act. The substantive change which allows farmers to sell their lambs as lamb, as opposed to mutton, took place some 12 months ago. This bill directs the levies to the correct channels. The total amount of money doesn't change, and the money ends up with Meat & Livestock Australia to distribute anyway. So it is a technical amendment, but it is important, and of course I commend the bill to the House.

For the benefit of the member for Chifley, if he's back in his office having a look, I'll move on to what this bill is about and what it means for a sheep producer. A lamb, like a human baby, has baby teeth. At around 10 to 11 months, the lamb starts to cut its adult teeth. Traditionally, the minute that you could identify the adult teeth cutting through, the definition of that lamb changed to 'mutton'. Traditionally, again, the lamb price was significantly higher than the mutton price.

This year, that is slightly different—particularly in Western Australia, where there's a great deal of restocking going on, or of sheep being purchased by eastern state breeders for restocking their properties. Well over a million sheep have left Western Australia this year for the east coast to assist those farmers recovering from drought to restock. We've seen some extraordinary prices for breeding ewes, and they're certainly outstripping the lamb price at the moment. That usual price differential just doesn't exist this year, but of course the cycle will turn and it will be very useful for lamb producers that that definition has been moved from the first cutting of the adult teeth to the first wearing of the adult teeth—or 12 months, whichever occurs first. It's a very important change that came in around 12 months ago for sheep and lamb producers.

I did want to talk today about the importance of the live export trade in relation to sheep and lamb, particularly for Western Australian producers, where—

Dr Leigh interjecting—

Well, it's in relation to the bill—sheep and lamb. Those lambs are exported live, member for Fenner. If you had any knowledge of the Western Australian sheep industry, you would well know—

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