Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Export Control Amendment (Ending Live Sheep Exports by Sea) Bill 2024. Farming, agriculture and trade play pivotal roles in Australia's economy and national identity. Agriculture is a significant contributor to our country's GDP, providing employment in rural communities and supporting livelihoods across the nation, and many small and family businesses are involved in agriculture, including a number of members in this House, particularly on our side of the House. The Middle East is Australia's largest export partner for sheepmeat, and this demand for Australia's live sheep exports is mostly driven by Middle Eastern customers who prefer freshly slaughtered meat that adheres to specific cultural practices. Also, given their infrastructure and electricity supply over there, boxed meat isn't always applicable.

The coalition, the Liberal and National parties, argue that the live sheep export ban—that's exports of sheep by sea—will have enormous consequences for local jobs, local communities, local farming families, small and family businesses and the Australian economy. This industry provides jobs, hundreds of jobs, for people who reside in Western Australia. We're going to see many of these people unemployed. We're going to see many of these people leave their communities. This would include farmers, vets, tradespersons and other people that are the backbone of those local communities.

Farming and agriculture are deeply ingrained in Australian culture. So to hear that the Labor Party, with this bill, wants to ban live sheep exports by sea is absolutely astounding, particularly when we look at some of the evidence that the member for Hinkler spoke about before—it's well documented—in relation to the recent Dunkley by-election in Melbourne, where a political party was giving preferences to the Labor Party, in return for, possibly, bringing this bill to the House now.

We know that the Labor Party are not for farmers, small and family business, or those in rural areas. This bill further proves this. I couldn't help but hear the member for Canberra speak before. She said that when she came into parliament, in 2019, she received hundreds of emails from constituents during that time. I understand that. As a member of the House, with a marginal seat, you do look at emails from constituents. Sometimes you might get a couple or a few. At other times, in relation to live sheep, when you have a campaign on the back of Animals Australia, you might get hundreds.

I was the same. When I was on the backbench, in the lead-up to the 2019 election, I received hundreds of emails about it as well, so I took note. As someone that loves animals—I've got all the animals: dogs, cats, birds and everything else—I want to make sure that animals are treated properly. So what did I do? I decided to go over to Western Australia and take a look. I don't know if the member for Canberra went over to Western Australia when she was elected in 2019. She could have. She was receiving hundreds of emails from constituents. It might be a good idea to go over and have a look at what they're emailing you about so you've got some idea of what you're talking about. That's the way I do things. That's the way I see things, when people contact me. So, on 17 January 2019, I, along with the member for Hinkler, flew to Western Australia where we were met by the member for Forrest and the member for O'Connor, whose communities are going to be particularly impacted by the Labor Party's closure of this industry. We found that trip to be very beneficial. I went there with a very open mind to look at the good things in the industry but also what could have needed improvement.

When I was there, on that trip in Western Australia, I met with Holly, an Australian accredited veterinarian. She's a vet who actually travels with the sheep on the ship when they go to the Middle East. Holly is also a compliance manager for live export companies as well as a vet. She travels on these ships to look after the sheep. She explained to me that there are lots of animal welfare quality assurances, from Australian farms all the way to the importing country. Regarding moving onboard, she said that what's involved with the daily routine is getting all the sheep moving around and making sure they have access to clean, fresh drinking water and food. I saw that when I boarded the ship. There were eight or so levels on the ship. Each of the pens that the sheep go into had water containers, and food containers were distributed. There were lots of those in every pen, and they were quite accessible. Also, the sheep couldn't be jam-packed into the one pen. Only about two-thirds of the pen was full, so there was room to move around and so forth. There were massive vents that came out into each of the pens. It was basically like aircon. They suck fresh air from the ship into every deck. That's what I personally witnessed. I don't know if the minister or the member for Canberra has been there or their team, but, when I looked at that and saw what was involved with this particular ship, it was excellent. It was very, very good.

Holly was telling me that her job is to make sure that these sheep are looked after, there's fresh ventilation and there's food and water, and, if there are any sick sheep, they're quarantined. There is also a daily crew of about 30 people on board as well as independent observers ensuring that all processes are followed, and welfare quality is ensured. The industry average of livestock mortalities from these voyages is about 0.3 per cent to one per cent. These ships have roughly 66,000 livestock on board. They're big ships with multiple decks, as I explained. Fewer than one per cent of animals would die on the journey, which is often a two-week journey. Before the animals even board the ship, they are quality checked. Any sick or injured animals or pregnant ewes are taken care of and removed from the rest. If animals become sick or injured on the vessel, they are removed and put into a quarantine facility, and the main risks for sickness or injury are lameness, pneumonia and gastrointestinal issues.

On that visit to Western Australia to this live export ship, I watched all the trucks, the road trains, come in and unload the sheep as well. I put it all on social media and out there for my constituents to see. Rather than give some sort of bland response that I got from an advisor in my office or something, I actually emailed all the constituents in my electorate and said: 'Here is a video of me on site. This is Holly, the vet. This is what we're looking at. These are pictures from each of the decks.' You know what—probably 60 per cent of the people who emailed me were satisfied with that. They said: 'Thanks very much, Luke. Thanks for going over there and actually having a look.' It's good to get some firsthand knowledge, eyeball it yourself and see what's going on with it. It's common sense, you'd think.

I also had the opportunity on that trip to speak with Bindi, who is a Western Australian farmer—

See this speech in context