David Littleproud (Maranoa, National Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Hansard source

I acknowledge the member for Clark's motion and I acknowledge the conviction of the member for Clark on this issue over many years in the conversations we've had, but I ask him to open his mind. The assessment that he's made is predicated on the Awassi Express incident of 2017—I was the minister in 2018—which, I agree, was wrong, and it had to be fixed, and I fixed it.

Let me be clear about this: there needed to be significant reforms after that incident and we needed to move from a mortality methodology to an animal welfare methodology. We are the first country in the world that has moved from a mortality standard to an animal welfare standard, because of the reforms that I put in place as the minister. I'm proud of those. I'm proud of the fact that we are now making decisions. Those decisions about the northern summer that you're talking about were, in fact, decisions that I brought in with industry.

I have to acknowledge the industry. The industry put a self-imposed ban on the northern summer until the science was determined. We have continued to work on that science—on the stocking densities and the types of sheep that go over in those shoulder periods and when to stop it altogether—so much so that the decision that was made on this still precludes it in some parts of the Middle East, because it is too hot, as you've said. That has meant working with the Bureau of Meteorology and other international meteorological societies to make sure that the data is correct. We made sure about the size of the animal that goes on. In fact, even the length of the wool is determined.

You talked about a special approval being given in June 2020. That was provided only because of COVID-19. It was provided because there were 56,000 sheep sitting on a boat that was already docked and loaded. They couldn't have been taken off or they would've all been destroyed. Every one of those 56,000 sheep would have been destroyed, so the right thing to do was to reduce the number down to 36,000, using the science that we had, to make sure that we could have some hope of letting those sheep sail. That was a hard decision to make, but it was one that was thrust upon us as the result of COVID-19, because the boat was meant to sail pre the closing of that window.

Let me make this clear: this new order that I put in place before the election was predicated on the science of this northern summer and of when sheep can sail and of the quality of those sheep that can sail. When they go to the Middle East, this is a food security issue. I'm sorry to tell you that this industry is not in decline. You might want to look at ABARES. ABARES shows that it's a $107 million industry this year. It'll be $119 million next year. Let me tell you that the reason it was in decline in 2018 is that there was this little thing called a drought. If you want to come west of the divide and have a look at how agricultural production takes place, when drought hits stock numbers go down. It's not rocket science; it's agricultural production.

Let me tell you, this isn't in decline. I've been to the Middle East and I've actually seen the facilities. What we have and what we put in place—not only our government but governments before of both persuasions—was two systems. There is ASEL, which protects those animals, whether they be sheep, cattle, donkeys or anything we export live. There are standards that are set that the exporters must adhere to. Then there is ESCAS. That means when those sheep or cattle or any animal gets to another destination in country, those in-country facilities must adhere to those standards, which are Australian standards, the world's best standards. If they do not, then we simply do not send any animal to those facilities. Exporters themselves have stopped a number of facilities, particularly in cattle, immediately. In fact at one sheep facility in the Middle East, where the stockmen were using more aggressive means of getting sheep into a pen than we would have thought reasonable in Australian standards, we stopped it. But we invested in the education to make sure that those facilities were done properly.

In the Middle East it's not about refrigeration; it's about culture. I've been to a brand new facility in Kuwait City. That is to ESCAS standards, Australian standards, but it respects the cultural differences between our two countries in a respectful way, to make sure that that can be adhered to it. It's not barbaric. Those cultures are rich and should be respected, but if they can learn the ways in which we as Australians have the best animal welfare standards in the world, haven't we done a better thing for this world? Are we exporting our animal welfare standards to other countries by doing this? If you want to shut this industry off, let me tell you where the Middle East will get their sheep from: Sudan, Ethiopia, South Africa—

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