Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party, Shadow Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

Member for Hasluck, you keep interjecting. We're coming for you on this one! We had a whole lot of people in this building, and they can't wait to doorknock your electorate—through you, chair. I just highlight that to the member. Again, they'll get up and say, 'We should process it all ourselves.' They probably won't get up, or, if they do get up and talk about animal welfare, that will be interesting, because we have the best animal welfare processes in the country and indeed the world. No industry is perfect. We have all seen images from the live export industry and other industries where they needed to improve. They have continually improved processes and standards, which is why they are the best in the world. Australia, as I say, has the best welfare standards in the world. This again shows the ignorance: the Prime Minister got up today and said that this is a dying industry anyway. But the numbers don't support this. Live sheep exports in 2022 were 380,000 tonnes. In 2023, they went to 640,000 tonnes. This is a lucrative industry. This is an industry that there is more demand in, and it's a growing industry economically. Again, this was inner-city, elite MPs, listening to the leftie press that they follow and saying they know best. They weren't talking to farmers, or talking to them about how they improved industry or why it's important to them. They were just listening to the leftie press that they follow in the inner cities.

I want to go through just some of the ways that this industry has improved its standards over the last few years. We've had: a moratorium on exports in the Northern Hemisphere summer; increased space for each animal; improved ventilation; automated monitoring; independent observers; and inspections of animals before they get on the boat to make sure they're fit enough to undergo the journey. Now, we even have examples of livestock putting weight on during these journeys. I'm a modest cattle farmer, Deputy Speaker, and I can tell you that if an animal is putting on weight, they're doing very well. Mortality rates are lower than the national mortality rates we have in paddocks. We even monitor—we have a look at—the feedlots and the abattoirs that these live exports go to, to make sure they're at standards that are up to our standards. Again, we have been a world leader in improving the standards of this.

But no! No, that isn't okay, 'We know best, because the ABC have told us, or the animal activists, have told us, "You've got to shut this down.''' Again, it has been absolutely ideological bastardry. But—

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