Andrew Willcox (Dawson, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to highlight yet another bad decision by the Albanese Labor government, and that is to phase out the live export trade for Australia. I say 'for Australia' because this will do nothing to the export trade throughout the world. The only thing it will do is highlight the fact that some of those other countries do not have the same stringent standards that we do when we export, and we account for about a third of the worldwide sheep trade. I don't understand why those opposite never support the farmers, the fishers, the miners and the foresters. They never ever do. This comes hot on the heels of the gillnet ban, which put 90 fisher men and women in my area of Dawson out of business, with no consultation whatsoever.

I was very excited to join my parliamentary colleagues of the coalition ag committee on a tour of Western Australia, where we saw firsthand what the phasing out of the live sheep trade industry would do. Let me tell you: it's diabolical. There are farmers over there—third-, fourth- and fifth-generation farmers—in despair. They don't know whether to invest. Their families are walking off the farms. Their kids won't go back. It's absolutely terrible.

Let's go straight to the facts. When the live sheep go onto the boat, they're monitored on the whole trip, from the start right through to the finish, and a lot of those sheep actually put on weight. It's a bit like us when we go on a cruise ship. If you're comfortable and you have some good tucker, you put on weight. That is certainly not what happens to anyone who's in despair. And have a look at the temperatures. It's pretty harsh country for sheep out in Western Australia and some of the areas in South Australia, but, when they're on the boat, the sea moderates the temperature. They're actually looked after really well, and their mortality rate is 0.2 per cent. They have a higher mortality rate when the sheep are out in the paddock. We're looking after the sheep extremely well. They are the scientific facts.

Unfortunately, the decision to phase out the live sheep industry has not been made on scientific fact; it has been made on political fact. The Albanese Labor government is bowing down to the Greens, once again. I know they're in a coalition together, and I appreciated their position, misguided though it is. They're bowing down once again and they're trying to save these inner-city seats, but what about looking after the farmers of this country, who provide the food and fibre and who feed us? Without farms in this country, we would be naked, starving and sober.

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