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

This is the folly that is being sold to Australians—that we can just process them all here—without understanding these decisions. This is what happens when you have a government that doesn't understand agriculture and doesn't understand production cycles. If you were serious about the ideological view you'd taken and you had conviction in what you believed, wouldn't you go and face these people in Western Australia—the 3,000 livelihoods that you're about to rip away? The Prime Minister on election night said that no-one would be held back and no-one would be left behind. That's unless you live in Western Australia. That's unless you're in agriculture. Why wouldn't you go and look them in the eye and say: 'Look, this is the reason why we are shutting down. This is the scientific reason why we are shutting this industry down. This is the economic reason why we are shutting this industry down.' But they have no courage to go and face any farmer or anyone in the industry.

In fact, when the minister went to announce that the phase-out date was May 2028, he flew on taxpayer dollars to Perth to make an announcement at the Commonwealth parliamentary offices by invitation only and Zoomed in every stakeholder in the industry. He didn't eyeball them. He hid in a parliamentary office so that he could do his press conference with Perth in his background. How shallow can a minister be that he doesn't have the courage of his convictions to front up to these people and make an announcement? Go and make the announcement at Katanning. Go to the yards in Katanning and tell them. If you are so convinced about why you are doing this, if you are so righteous, then go and face them. Look them in the eye. That's the Australian way. It's not to just cut and run. If you're going to cut someone's livelihood, have the courage to look them in the eye and tell them exactly what you're going to do and why you're doing it. Instead, this is all ideological.

As soon as that announcement came out, so too did the press releases. The Animal Justice Party takes credit because this is now the reward for the preference deal that they did with Labor in the 2022 election. They did it to get their preferences. It all came out. But we knew that from the start because the animal activists were the ones who announced the closing down of this industry to start with. That's who's running this government. It's not someone who makes decisions predicated on experience or knowledge or industry insight or consultation. That's why you see over a thousand registered trucks and tractors driving through the streets of Perth. They've had a gutful of not being listened to.

Not only that but this government is so incompetent. The minister sent his department to tell Kuwait and Qatar that they were going to phase this out. But how incompetent were they? They sent them to the wrong agency. They told the wrong government department that they will no longer have food security because Australia doesn't trust them anymore. They sent them to the wrong department, causing an international incident with a good, significant trading partner from the Middle East. This shows how invested this government has been in its pursuit of shutting down a lawful industry.

I get the passion from some, particularly those from capital cities that don't understand and don't appreciate exactly what happens, but you are talking about the livelihoods of 3,000 Australians, taken away with the stroke of a pen, without a reason, without science, without economics and without acknowledging the reforms that were put in place to protect this industry that this country led and leads the world on. Why would you not have the courage of your conviction to front up and face them and tell them to their face exactly why? Australian governments should be better than that, no matter their political persuasion. They should have the courage to face up and they should have the courage to say to their fellow Australians, 'I'm going to take your livelihood away and this is why.' If you don't then you don't have a social licence to operate, as far as I'm concerned. The people of Western Australia and these producers are, rightfully, wondering where their government is going.

There is a better way, and we have shown it as a nation, and that's why this industry needs to continue. That's why we still want to see meat processing in this country. We've got to understand the limitations of it in terms of production cycles. It's great for economists and those in capital cities telling us how to operate and how to produce the food and fibre that they enjoy every day, but at some point they might want to have an understanding of the economics of it and how it actually operates. Otherwise, you're going to have a perverse outcome. This is the challenge that we have, and you will see these countries taken up.

When I asked the Prime Minister in question time in the last sitting to name one country in the world that has higher animal welfare standards in the export of live animals—anywhere in the world—he could not name one country—zip—because there aren't any. This is the moral dilemma of those opposite who want to take this away. If they're really honest with themselves, when they go and put their heads on their pillows tonight and shut their eyes, they should really ask themselves: 'Have I really saved any sheep? Really? Am I going to save the welfare of any sheep because of these actions?' They won't. The ideology will tell them that; the practicality won't. The practicality of this is that they will have the deaths of millions of sheep—horrific deaths of heat stress, of conditions that we would never support, that no farmer ever supports.

What we did is we led, we reformed and we changed it. We did that with the cattle industry as well. There was an error in 2011—and I mentioned earlier that this government made a knee-jerk reaction and shut it down, which is going to cost about $200 million to $400 million in compensation. But they were given a chance—they reformed it and they reformed the processing sector in Indonesia so that our animal welfare standards were respected in Indonesia. The Indonesians had the respect to lead as well, and to make sure that the animal welfare standards that we expect are delivered there. That's what it is to be part of a global community and to do the right thing, not to cut and run, not to have some ideological view because a minority in this country is asking you for it and because you want their preferences. It's about doing the right thing. It's about leading the world. In regional Australia we have led the world, and we're going to be let down by politicians dripping with self-righteous sanctimony who have zero understanding of this industry. They've never engaged with this industry. They've never engaged with production cycles in any agricultural form, yet they are prepared to sit here and make decisions on these people's livelihoods and futures with the stroke of a pen, without even saying a word to them. That is not the Australia that I know. That is not what regional Australians expect should happen in their parliament. That's not what they expect from their elected members of parliament.

For this minister, who voted against a motion we put up last week to have a parliamentary inquiry into this, because he failed to go and talk to them, we thought we might get the parliament, and then within a matter of days, he then reverses it and says, 'Yes, there's still a parliamentary inquiry, but let's do it over the next two to three weeks.' That is absolute contempt for those men and women whose livelihoods he has taken away with the stroke of a pen. He's not shutting this industry down till 2028, so wouldn't you think he could give them some respect? Wouldn't you think that he could show the respect to turn up and have a parliamentary inquiry, test his science and test his economics in front of this industry—in front of the men and women whose livelihood he's going to take away. Let's have a debate of ideas on this. Instead, he's shown absolute contempt that they must have their submissions in within less than a week.

That's absolute contempt for understanding what farmers and industry are going through. They're not sitting there with bated breath waiting for the minister to ask for a submission. These men and women are out producing your food and fibre. To say that there's limited spaces and limited time for you to go and put your case to your elected officials, to disrespect them and disrespect democracy in the way that this government is proposing to do speaks volumes about them, not the farmers whose livelihoods are being taken away.

I challenge the minister to follow through with what he also committed to in Senate estimates, that there would be a Senate inquiry into this, because I suspect this is all about the politics of the cities. 'Oh, no, we gave the good old people from the bush a bit of a look in. We gave them a parliamentary inquiry and they had a whinge, but we were right after it.'

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