Rick Wilson (O'Connor, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

I want to speak directly to my farmers today. I want to say, despite what happened in the other place last night, be proud of what you do. Be proud of what you do because the country rides on your back. The farmers of this country feed us and they provide the prosperity. The inner-city has now turned on you, that is true, but you should be very, very proud of what you do.

I also want to address the fact that this industry, which is so important to the farmers of Western Australia, is not finished. The phase-out date, 1 May 2028, has been voted on by the government in this place. That allows two elections between now and that phase-out date, so I say to my farmers: believe in your industry, believe that this government will change and the trade will continue after 1 May 2028. I say that with some confidence when I look at the New Zealand situation. When Jacinda Ardern was at her peak and much loved by everybody, mainly the media around the world, she banned the live export trade out of New Zealand—those were dairy heifers—because a vessel sank in tornado conditions off Japan. Interestingly enough, the effect of that ban meant poddy calves, those dairy heifers, were knocked on the head at three days of age because there was no market for them.

The conservative government in New Zealand, which was elected on the same day as the referendum was held here in Australia, committed to reintroduce the trade. This week, their parliament is debating and passing that legislation to reintroduce the trade. So I say to my farmers, this trade will continue. This government will be gone at either the next election or the following one, and our leader, Peter Dutton, and the Leader of the Nationals, David Littleproud, have committed to reintroduce the trade. That's to my farmers. I understand your confidence has been knocked around. The price has collapsed since the phase-out panel started to do its rounds last March and April in Western Australia. But I say to you, we will turn that around, and this trade will continue and thrive. It will thrive because our international customers value and demand our product.

I had the pleasure of visiting the Middle East in May, just a couple of weeks ago. While I was there, by the way, I hand delivered a letter to the Kuwaiti government from the President of the WA Farmers Federation, John Hassell, and the Chairman of the Pastoralists and Graziers Association, Tony Seabrook, saying directly to the Kuwait government that we reject the Australian government's policy and we want to continue to provide you with the best quality sheep in the world. The Kuwaitis accepted that letter very gratefully because they have an enormous investment in this country. It's not just in the live sheep trade, although they do own feedlots and facilities here, and they do own the boats. They also have up to $50 billion of investment across a whole range of industries in this country. Let me tell you, they're not that happy that the Australian government is effectively kicking sand in their face. The Australian government is saying to our Kuwaiti partners, who we've been dealing with for 50 years now: 'We don't want your trade. We don't want your investment, and we don't want to sell you our product.'

The Kuwaitis love Australian sheep. I went to a butcher shop in Kuwait and bumped into a random man who was there doing the family shopping. I explained that we were from Australia, and he said: 'I love Australian sheep. I can't get any today.' The only sheep he could get was South African sheep. Guess what—South Africa have just had an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. So, unfortunately, they won't be able to get sheep from South Africa either. But they are going to get sheep because that's what they want. That's what they demand. They want fresh sheep, and they will get them from North Africa or the Black Sea, where there is no regulation. There is no ESCAS. There is nothing to protect those animals. When Australia steps out of that market, those standards that have been set in those countries, our destination countries, will disappear.

Once again, on a trade perspective, we have an opportunity. We have Saudi Arabia who are taking our sheep for the first time in 13 years. For the first time in 13 years, we're getting sheep back into Saudi Arabia. They import eight million sheep a year—far more than we can ever provide. But I tell you what, they've accepted ESCAS. They've accepted our system of animal welfare, so because of the 150,000 sheep that we might send them next year—we haven't got enough to send them any more—the other 7.85 million sheep are going to get treated a lot better. Member for Fremantle, you should remember that when you make your remarks.

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