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

which is not treated in the same way, can go and be killed that way? Can be put on a boat where there are no standards about how many can go on the boat? They don't count how many go on the boat; they count how many come off it.

So let me give you a stark reality of the real world, not the ideology of a capital city, the ideology of how the world operates. This thing is not going away. This is a growing industry. This is a cultural issue that will not go away. In other markets it is around refrigeration and food security. Let me make this clear. I invested about three months of my life in cleaning this industry up. I'm proud of what I've done, but I'm proud of what the industry has done, because they came on the journey. They made sure that they got the science right, that they had the best animal welfare standards in the world. We're not going to run for cover, like cowards, and let someone else do it and not do it as well as the Australians. That's not the Australian way. We're better than that. But you don't want to be like that. You want to run, put your head in the sand and not realise that there is a reality in the world.

So we're going to continue to make sure we support this industry. It's not barbaric. One of the most important things I did was give truth and proof on those boats, independent observers. I challenge all those that condemn the live export industry: you can actually see the photos. They are not standing in urine or in faeces. In fact they are waited on between here and the Middle East. The tests are very clear. The science is very clear. In fact they are putting weight on because they are in an environment that is helping that. Even the markets in the Middle East are telling us that because we have better standards now these animals are better in terms of the condition they arrive in and the standard that they're able to provide.

You talk about public support. Let me give you a bit of six to four on public support. I've actually seen the polling on this, and it's not as cut and dried as you might think. But this shouldn't just be about public support. It should be about doing the right thing—doing the right thing for animal welfare, whether the animals are from Australia, Sudan or the Baltic states. So don't think you're virtuous and think you have some sort of moral compass that is greater than anyone else's, because there is a reality in the world that this trade will continue and it will continue to increase—in places like Qatar. Qatar, yes, does import some of our boxed and chilled meat. But I had a conversation with the Prime Minister in his own residence about the fact that he will continue to get this, whether it's from Australia or somewhere else, but he'd prefer to get it from Australia.

I'm proud of the reforms we put in place—the independent observers, the stocking densities. To think that we can just put the processing sector up is being ignorant about the reality. You can't. In fact, most of the facilities at the moment are only at about 60 per cent because they don't have the people in there to run them. So, while I respect your conviction, just understand the practical reality of the world. We've got a responsibility to stay, to get it right and to do it in the Australian way because that's the best way.

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