Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Hansard source

Together with, amongst others, the members for Grey, Nicholls and O'Connor, I travelled to Adelaide and Western Australia between 5 March and 8 March to hear firsthand of concerns from those most impacted by Labor's dreadful decision to phase out animal exports. As a result of that trip, we have prepared a report, together with submissions. I seek leave to tender that report.

Leave granted.

I am grateful to my friends. We sought that leave in the House and were denied it, so I'm grateful. Labor have obviously reconsidered their position. I must congratulate them on that because there was vehement opposition to the tendering of that material previously, which was consistent with the Labor Party's approach to the consultation with stakeholders and others.

The member for Newcastle was just talking about how upfront those opposite are with respect to the phase-out. If they were so upfront, they would not be denying the numerous requests we have made to the minister to release the report to stakeholders, farmers and industry groups. The reality here is that the Australian people deserve to know what the impact of this decision will be. It's perhaps timely that we talk about the impact of this decision because we are still dealing with the consequences of the knee-jerk reaction to ban live cattle export during the period of the Gillard government.

Over the weekend, a scathing press release was issued by the Northern Territory Cattlemen's Association. This speaks directly to the impact on lives. On his departure, the outgoing president of the NTCA, David Connolly, said: 'Too many of our friends have already gone to their graves waiting for the compensation. This was money that was stolen from our families and businesses by the actions of the Gillard government. This compensation is not the reward for being right; it's justice for having been wronged.' Here we are more than a decade later and those opposite are seeking to perpetrate the same wrong, this time not on the cattlemen of the Northern Territory but on the sheep meat producers of this country. As we toured, in particular, Western Australia, the seats of O'Connor and Durack, those areas most impacted, I could see the wrong being perpetrated in the expressions of these people who were attending these meetings. They were, quite frankly, desperate. They have done every single thing this government, this parliament and the industry have asked of them. They have got death rates on these ships down to less than 0.2 of one per cent. For those opposite, who might not be in the practice of raising livestock, I can tell you that a survivability rate in that order is something you could expect out in a paddock.

I thought I knew most things about this debate. I have been around agriculture for a long time. This has been a perennial point of discussion. But something on this trip stuck with me, and I want to share it with those opposite. Those opposite think that by bringing in the phase-out they'll end live sheep exports globally. No, they won't. All they'll do is punish Australian farmers, who won't be able to participate in that trade. The reality is that the world will still demand live sheep. Many jurisdictions around the world demand this for cultural and logistical reasons. Those opposite are just saying to Australian producers: 'Sorry, you're not going to be able to participate in that.'

In the early 2000s I attended the Mount Gambier cattle market. I was having a discussion about animal welfare, and an old farmer, who's no longer with us, said to me: 'Tony, what you need to be more focused on is human welfare, famer welfare.' People receive prices that are below the level that anyone should expect for the work they do. The reality is that this decision is having a detrimental impact on the value of live sheep everywhere in Australia. Sheep meat producers in my electorate are being punished by this decision. Sheep meet producers in the member for Grey's electorate are being punished, and for no good reason. For the benefit of those opposite, I repeat: this industry has done every single thing this parliament has asked it to do. It has made those difficult decisions, exercised in accordance ESCAS, but for those opposite it's: 'Not good enough—you're out of business.' (Time expired)

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