Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

You learn new things every day in this job. I learned this afternoon that the minister at the table, the member for Sydney, is in fact a beekeeper, an apiarist—a farmer! I'm impressed. Indeed, that'll be the subject of future media releases, I'm sure, when I question the government about certain things agriculture related. But it is good that the member for Sydney does understand the importance of animal health, of insect health and of bees. Let me tell you, without bees, our agricultural industry would be nothing because the pollination—the process that goes on there—is crucial, essential, critical to all agriculture. I have newfound respect for the member for Sydney. I always appreciated our discussions, and, indeed, we've achieved some good things together in the space of health, and I look forward to working with her in the space of water infrastructure, which as the environment minister she's now responsible for.

Australia's biosecurity system is an absolute pillar of our national defence. I'm not overstating it or overplaying it; it is our national defence. Our biosecurity helps us to prepare for, mitigate against and respond to risks to our environment, our economy and our very way of life. Australia has long enjoyed a reputation for clean, green, healthy and disease-free agricultural production systems. May that long continue, because the moment that it is put at risk—the moment it is jeopardised and falls apart in even the slightest way—is the moment that those products which proudly carry the kangaroo symbol may well be spurned by international markets.

We are heading towards a hundred-billion-dollar agriculture industry by 2030. That's our goal, and it was very much the government's objective when we were in power. I know that those opposite share the same view. It's certainly shared by the National Farmers Federation. We acknowledge, as previous speakers on the Animal Health Australia and Plant Health Australia Funding Legislation Amendment Bill 2022 have stated, that our farmers are the very best in all the world. Make no mistake: they know the critical importance of this bill in improving their lives, their livelihoods, the lives of their animals, and their plants—the crops they grow. Australia's biosecurity has given Australian producers an edge in what is a very competitive international environment. We need to keep that edge, and anything that we can do, say or pass in this House and in the Senate to enhance that is to be commended.

That is why the coalition have said, as we've said with other legislation: 'If it's good legislation, we'll support it. We'll be very much in favour of it.' Not a lot of people know this, but even in those years when Julia Gillard was Prime Minister 88 per cent of legislation, or perhaps even a bit more, was passed in a bipartisan way. As I have for the member for Sydney, I've got the utmost respect for Julia Gillard. Indeed, she's been an exemplar in public life post-politics. A lot of people outside of parliament and some of those in the fourth estate like to make out that it's always argy-bargy and there's never any consensus or bipartisanship, but if good legislation is brought forward by the new Labor government we'll support it.

In 2020 the value of Australia's biosecurity system was estimated to be $314 billion over 50 years—314,000 million dollars. That's a lot of money. Many of the things that we take for granted as a constant of Australian life are now at greater risk than ever before. Exotic pests and diseases are spreading around the world at a faster rate. This is putting unprecedented pressure on our borders. I know recently we had a foot-and-mouth disease scare. I thank the government for what it did. We did call on the government to act sooner and harder.

Indeed, that outbreak in Indonesia, and people travelling to and from Bali in particular, made my farmers in the Riverina and the Central West very nervous. There were calls to ban travel to and from Bali. I wasn't against those calls, because if you get FMD in this country it's all over for many farmers. Indeed, it's all over for our abattoirs, and I've got some very big abattoirs in my electorate. I've got Chris Cummins at Cowra Breakout River Meats, the abattoir at Bomen in Wagga Wagga, abattoirs in Young and the meat-processing plant in Junee, where Heath Newton processes much of the sheepmeat that ends up on shelves throughout our supermarkets in Australia. An outbreak of FMD or lumpy skin disease or, indeed, any other disease would cause those meat processing plants to close just like that.

I should have also mentioned the Barton brothers at Gundagai. I know Will Barton is so short of labour that he was on the kill room floor not that long ago. He sent me photos of himself in a white coat and all the proper protective gear.

Our abattoirs, along with our farmers, are the best in the world. In my electorate, I have the two largest saleyard stock operations in Australia, if not the southern hemisphere: No. 1 is at Wagga Wagga and No. 2 is at Forbes. I was pleased as the infrastructure minister, in the glory days of Australian politics—

I got a laugh from the current minister for infrastructure, but it was true. I was pleased to provide funding for those Forbes saleyards. It meant the world of difference for them. And I know Steve Loane, who's the general manager of Forbes Shire Council but who's also had a lot to do with the stock and freight industry over the many, many years, was pleased to get that funding.

We need a strong biosecurity system. This legislation further enables and enhances that, and I'm pleased that it's been brought to the parliament.

I know the member for New England talked a lot in his contribution about the live trade export, and I know there are diverging views, both here and outside the parliament, about the live trade. I know, as the minister of transport, I did provide a tick-off to a sheep-carrying ship outside of the months of the year considered the best for the welfare of the sheep. Rest assured, I know those operators are under such strict and stringent conditions now that they cannot afford to not provide good welfare for the sheep. Indeed, in the system we have in place—going from paddock to plate, through the whole supply chain—animal welfare is first and foremost for our farmers. They get very upset when people suggest otherwise, when people suggest that they are not doing the right thing, whether it is sheep or cattle.

Our farmers, as I say, are the best environmentalists in the world. They're the best for animal husbandry. They're the best growers of crops anywhere in the world. But don't take my word for it. Take the word of those importers of our products. I was only talking to the ambassador for the United Arab Emirates yesterday, and he talked about the great products that come from Australia. The UAE wants to import more, and that's to be admired. I know when we took government in 2013 the percentage of trade under free trade arrangements was somewhere in the 20 per cent area. When we left, it was closer to 80 per cent. The markets that we opened up—even when there were changing conditions with the Chinese market and we had to look for other markets—led to our farmers being given more opportunities and different opportunities. That's going to need to be even more in place in the future, because our markets are not assured in the geopolitical situation that we have right across the world.

I'm visiting Africa next week and I'm very perturbed and confronted, as the shadow minister for international development and the Pacific, by the famine in Kenya, in Ethiopia and in Uganda. It has not been declared yet, yet tens of thousands, particularly children, have died already. This is always the case, and then they declare the famine, and then the United Nations and other NGOs act more swiftly than they would have otherwise. But this is a tragic situation, and it's largely being brought about, not by three years of drought in some of those countries I mentioned in the Horn of Africa, but by the war in Ukraine. I don't think we can quite understand fully here in Australia—we're a very lucky country—what it's like to go without food. We should thank our farmers three times a day every day. When we get food on our table, it's taken for granted. But those in Africa don't have that luxury. I know that what I'm about to see next week, on a bipartisan tour with the Save the Children fund, is going to be very distressing and very confronting.

I look forward to going to the Pacific the week after, with Minister Wong, Minister Conroy and shadow minister Birmingham, to look at the situation in Micronesia and Palau and elsewhere, because, in some of those Pacific nations, they have drought. It's hard to believe that they have drought, because we are in a La Nina and it simply will not stop raining. It had rained every day in my electorate, and it actually stopped two Sundays ago—the day after my daughter Georgina's wedding. She was really happy when she had to make alternative arrangements for her outdoor wedding! It was a lovely day, though, Member for Mallee, as I'm sure you know.

But the point of this legislation is important, and we need to make sure that our biosecurity system is what it needs to be and is even improved upon. I do thank the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Murray Watt, for bringing this forward and for his endeavours to make sure that Animal Health and Plant Health and biosecurity are what they need to be. We need to take every step, use every measure, to ensure that we stop harmful pests and diseases entering Australia, through whichever way—whether it's via cargo, sea vessels and aircraft, international travellers, post and mail or natural pathways—because our farmers expect nothing less. They deserve nothing less. And we need to do everything we can to protect the clean, green standards that have made us No. 1—No. 1 in the very best produce in all of the world. I commend the Animal Health Australia and Plant Health Australia Funding Legislation Amendment Bill 2022.

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