Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's great to be to be here to talk on an issue which is so close to my heart, which is obviously the Export Control Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2020, and also to talk about the live cattle and live sheep trades. I remember the time when the ban on live cattle was brought about by the Labor Party. As the shadow minister for water, of all things, I went out and did a press conference. I said: 'This is ridiculous. It's going to absolutely bite us on the backside. We've got to get out of this position as quickly as possible. This will be disastrous for the industry.' To be frank and to be honest, the first call I got was from Tony Abbott, and he wasn't happy with me. Nonetheless, the greater wisdom that resides within the coalition and the Liberal Party said: 'No, we're actually on the right path. We've got to stand by this. We've got to make the hard decision to bring a logical outcome for something which is one of the most vital industries for northern Australia.'

Once upon a time you could buy a place for nothing in an area like Broome, and, if you mustered cattle, you'd probably pay for it with that. Now you can go up there, and it's professional. You can see every beast that goes on—$1,500. Also, it goes beyond that. I went up there, and I was talking to people at the pound at Broome. The Indigenous families, the Aboriginal families—we call them Aboriginal families, because they want to be called Aboriginal—that are working—

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