Gavin Pearce (Braddon, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Health, Aged Care and Indigenous Health Services) Share this | Hansard source

The other issue I want to raise is the amount of cattle that we move out of Tasmania. I've got King Island in my electorate. There are about 93,600 head of cattle on King Island, and it's in drought at the moment. Those farmers are pressured. They've got to get animals off that island, and the only way off that island is via boat—live cattle on a ship. That's another thing: 26,000 head of cattle are transported 63 nautical miles from the Grassy port on King Island to the port of Stanley, and then they're slaughtered by Greenham & Sons as the Cape Grim Beef brand at their Smithton facility. It's done in the most professional world's best practice methods. The other market that exists in Tasmania is the JBS market at Longford. As well that, we're always sending stall cattle to the mainland and buying cattle in. The movement of cattle is immense, and it happens all over the country. I have quite a lot to do with the livestock industry and the movement of animals through the livestock carters' association, and the world's best practice that they have to provide and employ in their business is incredible. They care very deeply as well about the professionalism of their industry and getting their animals from A to B in the best possible conditions. Again, where is this going to end?

Never once have I heard of a farmer saying: 'I think there are too many coffee shops in that street in Sydney. I don't like that car park in inner Melbourne. I don't really like it there.' You never hear that. You never hear a farmer grabbing his or her mates together and forming a protest around whether or not we should have a park in the city. Farmers don't stick their noses into the business of others. It's a bit like you, Deputy Speaker, maintaining the control of both sides of this House. You control one side, and you control the other side, and you do it well, Deputy Speaker. You bring order to the House. All I'm saying is that we need order in this argument. We need the same respect and the same manners given to those on the other side. Why should city folk so far removed from the rural agricultural sector interfere with them? That's the point I'm making, and I want to make it strongly.

Finally, the friends who I met along the way in Wagin in WA last year—they were decent, honest, authentic and genuine folk who genuinely want the best for their industry—have had to leave their farms and come all the way to Canberra on a program called Keep the Sheep. They'll be here on Monday, and I urge everybody, whether you're from the bush or from the city, to get behind these folk, because this is their livelihood. This is their future. This is not only the future of their operation and their children's operation; it also provides food security and sovereignty to our nation. On Monday, Keep the Sheep are in Canberra; get behind them.

I want to leave you with the thought that if we don't start prioritising our food and supporting our farmers—getting behind our farmers and allowing them the latitude to go about their business—then we won't have an agricultural sector. We are biting the hand that feeds us. Eventually, that hand will bite back.

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