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

I'm proud of the reforms we put in place. I don't live in an ideological world; I live in the practical world. I live in a world where this industry will continue whether or not we're there. The agriculture minister says this is a declining industry. His own department refutes that. In 2022 there were 380,000 sheep sent to the Middle East. In 2023 it was 654,000. I don't know whether you need a calculator but that's an increase, not a decline.

Let me tell you why there was a decrease in 2022 and probably even in 2021: there was this thing called a drought. Being from western Queensland, I can tell you that we destocked. A lesson for those from metropolitan areas: what happens when a drought hits is there is no food, water dries up and you sell your stock, but when the rain comes back you have to restock. Instead of sending sheep from Western Australia to the Middle East, we were sending sheep across the Nullarbor and they helped replenish the east coast and electorates like mine in western Queensland with over two million sheep we did not have and, in fact, would not have been able to procure. We would have had to try and produce, which takes time; I don't think I have to explain to the member for Clark in particular about how that happens and the time of gestation. That's about cashflow for farmers; that's about paying the bills. The practical reality is that this industry is in incline, and the only time it isn't is when it's a safeguard for the east coast. When we have challenges on the east coast it's an opportunity to draw on those stock from the west coast and to give us the ability to make money, to pay for taxes and to pay for you and me to sit here in this parliament and make changes.

This industry will continue. Let me tell you: this is not just about us. It is so arrogant for us to sit here and say to those countries in the Middle East, like Qatar and Kuwait and the UAE, 'You are not trusted with our live sheep because we don't believe you have the animal welfare standards.' This is not just about food security; this is cultural as well. This is about respecting their cultural beliefs and giving them the food security they need. This industry will continue whether we're there or not. If we're not there, the countries that will take this market up will be countries like Ethiopia, Sudan and South Africa. I talk about the science of stocking density rates on boats. But they don't work on animal welfare. They work on a mortality methodology—the one that we came from. But they don't work on any stocking density rates at all. Their methodology is to put as many sheep as they possibly can on a boat, and what they get paid for is what is left at the other end. That is horrific.

This is about us having a moral compass, not being morally bankrupt and ideological from the sanctity of Hobart but actually having the—

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