Michelle Ananda-Rajah (Higgins, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Labor went to the 2019 and 2022 federal elections promising to phase out live sheep exports by sea, and I am pleased to speak in support of the bill, the Export Control Amendment (Ending Live Sheep Exports by Sea) Bill 2024, that makes this happen. Calls for banning live sheep exports have arrived consistently at my office since I entered parliament in May 2022. People are concerned about animal welfare, and is it any surprise when 26 million Australians own 28 million pets? That's nearly 70 per cent of households. We are a nation of animal lovers—amongst the highest in the world.

Debra said:

The quality of a society is reflected in several ways including the way it treats animals. These animals should be spared another arduous journey into an uncertain war-torn area. It would be a powerful step to show the Government is serious about animal welfare. Hopefully, locally processed meat (as humanely as possible) will be our export in place of cruel live animal export before too much longer. A powerful step toward that end would be to spare these poor animals from further distress.

Michael said:

It is about time that we all ask ourselves the question, by what right do we take the lives of these sentient beings who feel pleasure, suffer pain, who want to live and who do not want to die, and who have done us no harm … Live animal export is brutal, barbaric and unnecessary. Please use your best endeavours to stop all of this immediately.

Sarah wrote to acknowledge the tabling of this legislation:

This action is important in bringing agricultural practices in line with Australian society's expectations and upholding respect for animal welfare. Thank you for putting an end to live export. We can support agricultural development in Australia in a sustainable and ethical way, and do not need to transport animals across the world in terrible conditions and allow their slaughter to be undertaken at the end of a long journey.

These are the voices of Higgins.

In 2023, nearly 44,000 Australians signed a petition calling for the parliament to legislate an end date to phase out the export of live sheep by sea from Australia. A petition to reverse the government's policy and continue live sheep exports by sea received 10,000 signatures. Several members of the opposition are on the record as opposing live sheep exports from Australia. So these changes are in line with the current views of many, many Australians. But they also do affect communities, particularly in Western Australia, and we acknowledge that. It is important, however, to understand the careful scope and timing of this legislation and the transitional supports that we have put in place in order to support those communities who will be affected. This is how we do things as a government—implement important change in line with community expectations in a timely fashion and provide support and a way forward for those affected. We are trying here to strike the right balance.

This change has been a long time coming and has been comprehensively researched. An independent four-person panel that also included a previous CEO of the RSPCA engaged with over 2,000 attendees at in-person events and 330 people in virtual forums. They held over 80 meetings with organisations and farmer representative groups and received over 800 written submissions and 3,300 survey responses. This was incredibly comprehensive. The panel provided its report, containing 28 recommendations, to the government in October last year. Of those, 23 recommendations have been supported and five have been noted. The resulting bill before us prohibits the export of live sheep by sea from Australia from 1 May 2028. It allows the export of live sheep by air to continue. It allows the export of all other livestock, including cattle, by sea or by air to continue.

The 2024-25 budget includes $107 million over five years from 2024-25 for transition support for the phase-out of live sheep exports by sea. Specific measures include $64.6 million for sheep producers and the supply chain to plan and implement transition actions and expand domestic sheep-processing capability. It will also support community and wellbeing activities and rural financial councillors. There's $27 million allocated to market sheep products in Australia and overseas, $2.6 million to continue to improve sheep welfare standards, $1.7 million to appoint a transition advocate to facilitate two-way communication between industry and government and, finally, $11.7 million for the implementation of the phase-out, including a stocktake of transition progress in 2026-27.

This is a change that is simply the right thing to do. It has community support and is designed for an orderly transition for industry. The end date provides certainty to farmers, supply chain businesses and trading partners. The change will encourage onshore value-adding such as domestic meat processing, creating more local jobs. A period of transition also allows for the humane management of existing stock.

I conclude with words from Sarah, a Higgins constituent: 'Australia can be a leader in ethical treatment of animals and a role model for the rest of the world. You have shown that your government upholds its commitments and has integrity, and that you do what you say you will do.' Hear, hear! I commend this bill to the House.

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