Colin Boyce (Flynn, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

():  I rise to speak on the Export Control Amendment (Ending Live Sheep Exports by Sea) Bill 2024. Why is it that the Labor government continues to bite the hand that feeds it? This legislation is part of the government's promise to shut down the live sheep export industry in Australia. And why do you think the Labor government is wanting to shut down the live sheep export industry? For Green left-wing citycentric preferences, that is why. This Labor government sold the sheep industry for a dirty preference deal with the Animal Justice Party in the lead-up to the Dunkley by-election in March 2024. When Minister Watt made his announcement on the shutdown deadline on 11 May 2024, the Animal Justice Party said:

We are proud that the AJP could deliver the knockout blow by demanding the end of live sheep export as a requirement for our preferences at the Dunkley By-election in March. Ongoing conversations behind-the-scenes between AJP and Labor leadership has helped to finetune government policy.

And what did the Animal Justice Party say is their next target? All live animal export industries.

I completely back former prime minister John Howard's call for the Labor Party to put the extreme Greens last at the next election. There is no place in Australian politics for extreme Greens and their continual attacks on the hardworking men and women in the mining and agricultural industries. Mr Albanese has been silent on preference deals with the Greens, and it's time for Labor to show some leadership and commit to putting the extreme Greens last. If not, it will show their contempt for our agricultural industry.

While the sheep and wool industries in my electorate of Flynn are quite small compared to the likes of Western Australia, I speak against this legislation as I have grave fears for what industry will be next. I'm of the firm belief that we should keep the sheep and ditch this terrible legislation. Labor cannot be trusted to look after the agricultural sector with their history of attacking the beef industry.

According to Meat & Livestock Australia's 2021-22 figures, Australia's red meat and livestock industry turnover was $75.4 billion. This is 7.7 per cent higher than the revised 2020-21 figures and an increase of 10.7 per cent over 2017-18 figures. In 2021-22, the Australian red meat and livestock industry employed approximately 433,389 people. In 2022, Australia produced approximately 1. 9 million tonnes of carcass weight beef and veal. In 2022, 2.7 million grain-fed cattle were marketed, equal to 47 per cent of all adult cattle slaughtered. In 2022, Australia exported 67 per cent of its total beef and veal production. The value of total beef and veal exports in 2022 was $10.4 billion, with almost 11 million head of cattle being in my home state of Queensland.

Central Queensland is the centre of Australia's beef operations, and Labor's move to cuddle up to their Greens mates while making a commitment to ban live sheep exports could be a clear call to all our beef producers: don't judge Labor by their words, just them by their actions. Their intended actions are now loud and clear. Labor shut down the live trade before, and now they want to do it again. They've started with sheep and then they'll move on to beef, just like they did in 2011 when, at a moment's notice, they shut down the live beef trade—costing Australian graziers many millions of dollars and harming our international relations. This kneejerk reaction from the Labor government back in 2011 meant some graziers went bankrupt and had to sell up. Some, tragically, took their own lives.

In 2020, a group of cattle producers, exporters and service providers won a class action in the Federal Court, which found that the former Labor government's 2011 decision to ban live exports to Indonesia was unlawful. The beef industry won that battle all the way to the High Court, and Labor have now indicated that they just want to kick the industry in the teeth rather than stand up and protect those who create wealth for our nation. In the years since, according to the ABC, only the lead claimant, the Brett Cattle Company, has received compensation. In January, the Labor government rejected the 215 remaining claimants and offered to settle the case for $510 million plus costs and interest, which could have resulted in a total figure of more than $800 million.

Why does this Labor government hate our agricultural industries so much? The previous coalition government invested billions in upgrading core infrastructure for the beef industry, including roads, rail and sales complexes. Labor is now plotting how they can sacrifice the sector in return for the support of inner-city ultra Greens. They are not on our side and they need to be held to account for their betrayal of the livestock sector. The biggest concern from producers in the electorate of Flynn is, 'Will the beef industry be next?' The Labor government's policy to end live sheep exports is shameful, blatantly ideological and reckless. Labor's policy to shut down the live sheep export industry fails to acknowledge the importance of this sector to supply a chain of people: our trading partners, their food security and the Australian economy. Live sheep employs thousands of Western Australians—more than 3,000 people—and has delivered important and comprehensive animal welfare reforms in recent years. It is crucial to recognise that the live sheep export industry employs shearers, truck drivers, fodder suppliers, livestock agents, farmers, producers and their families.

Australia has the highest animal welfare standards in the world, and this should be a source of national pride. Labor should be backing and supporting our farmers instead of attacking and destroying these live export industries. Since Labor embarked on shutting down the live sheep trade, confidence in the market has fallen. Prices for sheep plummeted in 2023 and thousands of Western Australians who rely on this industry are desperately worried about their futures. The timing of Labor's legislation to ban the industry is appalling, when Western Australian farmers are battling the effects of a very, very dry autumn.

Labor's decision carries enormous consequences for the agricultural sector, and if we allow this policy to be implemented it will set a precedent for any lawful agricultural industry. If this decision proceeds, our farmers will ask, 'What industry will be next?' This policy sends a frightening and alarming message to all animal production industries. The Labor government's policy to end live sheep exports is not based on science, evidence or data. Good agriculture policy must be driven by science, facts and solid evidence, not by extreme activist agendas which hurt innocent people.

Ending this industry will damage Australia's trading relationships in the Middle East, where our sheep are currently exported to, as this product is very important for their food security. Shutting down live sheep exports will damage our trading relationships and hurt food security in the Middle East. Our trading partners do not want chilled or boxed meat. They will secure their sheep from elsewhere, potentially from nations with poorer animal welfare standards than Australia. If Australia doesn't export live sheep, our existing trading partners will source alternatives from countries that do not have Australia's exceptionally high animal welfare standards, resulting in perverse international animal welfare outcomes. This was highlighted, tragically, in June 2022 when 15,000 sheep drowned due to a foreign boat having over 6,000 sheep beyond its limit. These are the animal welfare standards that will fill the void if Australia exits this industry field. And the government's $107 million so-called 'transition' package for the live sheep export industry is an insult and a disgrace. The package will do very little to assist the whole supply chain to plan and implement transition actions and to expand domestic sheep-processing capacity.

This legislation to end live sheep exports is another horrific blow to the agricultural sector and to regional Australia.

In just two years under this Labor Government, the people, families, communities and industries in regional Australia are doing it tough, and it's a direct consequence of policy decisions this government is making. What we have seen in the 24 months since the Albanese government was elected is an unprecedented, targeted assault on regions. This includes billions in cuts to infrastructure and road, rail and water projects. More than $7 billion was taken out of water infrastructure in Labor's first budget in 2022.

To make matters worse, the Labor government has betrayed the Bundaberg and North Burnett regions in their most recent budget by slashing funding to restore Paradise Dam. Prime Minister Albanese sat in the ABC Wide Bay studios and promised Labor would repair the dam. Now they have cut the funding that the previous coalition government secured. They've torn up dedicated agricultural visas despite crippling and widespread workforce shortages and attempted to impose the shambolic $150 million Biosecurity Protection Levy—a new tax which will force Australian farmers to pay for biosecurity risks on their international competitors to bring their products into this country. They've committed to the reckless rollout of wind and solar factories and 28,000 kilometres of transmission lines across agricultural land in the pursuit of a disastrous all-renewables approach to our energy grid. There are around 60 projects proposed in the electorate of Flynn alone, forcing havoc in local communities and the environment. There's a tax on new vehicles, where Australian families, farmers and tradies will pay more for SUVs, four-wheel drives and utes.

The cost of living crisis continues to worsen. Labor's homegrown inflation remains where homegrown inflation remains high. Under their watch, Australians are paying 11 per cent more for food, 14 per cent more for housing, 13 per cent more for rent, 20 per cent more for electricity, 25 per cent more for gas, 11 per cent more for health, 11 per cent more for education and 15 per cent more for insurance. The Labor government have also turned their backs on regional communications, falsely claiming that the Mobile Black Spot Program has not been cut to zero. The communications minister has been attempting to argue that the program has not been defunded. But the facts are that the budget papers show that zero funding has been allocated to mobile black spot programs in 2027-28, and Labor specifically refer to the conclusion of the program.

Asked about these issues recently, Minister Rowland told the host of the Sounds of the Mountains program that the budget papers need to be read as a whole, not in isolation, and clearly show that the program has been funded through the Better Connectivity Plan, so the assertion being made is absolutely wrong. Unfortunately, Minister Rowland, the budget papers reveal that this is not the case. In 2027-28, funding is cut to zero not only for the Mobile Black Spot Program but also for the Better Connectivity Plan for Regional and Rural Australia. The has minister said the Mobile Black Spot Program will be funded by the Better Connectivity program, but that is not the case, because there is no money at all in the budget for the Better Connectivity program in 2027-28. It is not possible to fund a program with $0.

It is time the government was honest about the axing of the funding of the Mobile Black Spot Program. The Albanese government is not being upfront with the people, especially those in rural and regional Australia who rely on this program. We can see again that the Labor government is not serious about improving connectivity in rural Australia. It was the coalition government that set up the Mobile Black Spot Program, and once again we see Labor crab walking away from supporting it. Minister Rowland must reverse the decision to defund the Mobile Black Spot Program and must ensure that the people of the Flynn electorate and other regional communities have the same connectivity rights as the rest of Australia.

I will be opposing this legislation, as it is another example of the government once again biting the hand that feeds it. Today, I call on the Prime Minister, Mr Albanese, and the minister for agriculture, Murray Watt, to come to Central Queensland, look our graziers in the eye and make the commitment that they will not ban live cattle exports. Keep the sheep, and protect our critical agricultural industries.

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