Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to the suspension of the live cattle trade with Indonesia and the unfolding disaster that this entails for cattle producers across Northern Australia. Is the Prime Minister prepared to meet with me, urgently, so that we can work together on a bipartisan basis to re-open this trade as soon as possible, at least for those Indonesian abattoirs that already fully meet Australian standards?

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. I can assure the Leader of the Opposition that very concerted work has been in train following the decision of the government, through the cabinet meeting last week, to suspend live exports to Indonesia. Indeed, that work continued at a pace throughout the long weekend and many public servants, many representatives of the cattle industry and, of course, the minister himself were directly engaged in that work over the weekend.

As I advised the Leader of the Opposition in more informal discussion before parliament formally started, of course, the government is working through issues associated with animal welfare for animals that had already been moved or were mustered on properties awaiting export before the suspension came into effect. We are strongly engaged with the MLA, the industry representative group. The minister has written to the MLA in relation to the making available of $5 million for a hardship fund. We are engaged in inspections and work in Indonesia and there is a very, very quick focus on that. As the Leader of the Opposition's question reflects and as, I think, is common knowledge, not all abattoirs in Indonesia are at the same standards and, of course, we want to work through as expeditiously as possible on inspections so that we can be assured that abattoirs are adopting the world standard about slaughter of animals, and we are encouraging the use of stunning.

The government has been working through these things methodically and quickly, as I believe my office indicated to the Leader of the Opposition earlier today. We are very happy for the responsible shadow minister, who I understand to be the Leader of the National Party—I assumed it was the Leader of the National Party but, of course, it is a matter for the opposition who the responsible shadow minister is—to get an intensive briefing from the minister. If, following that intensive briefing, there are further questions that the opposition wishes to pursue, then I am, of course, happy to talk about those matters directly with the Leader of the Opposition. I do think it would assist the Leader of the Opposition, through his shadow minister, to get a comprehensive briefing on all actions that have been taken to date and are being taken as we speak.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I have a supplementary question to the Prime Minister. I do appreciate the spirit in which the Prime Minister answered my earlier question, but I do remind the Prime Minister that there are at least some abattoirs in Indonesia which already clearly meet Australian animal welfare standards and I ask the Prime Minister: why can't the live export trade to those abattoirs be resumed immediately?

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question; it is a reasonable one. There are two factors here—factor No. 1: the conditions in the abattoir; and factor No. 2: being able to track where Australian cattle go. So, unless we are able to track and ensure, if we say conditions are appropriate in one facility, that Australian cattle are going to that facility and that facility alone and not ending up in other facilities, then clearly we have not solved the problem. There are two things here: the inspections for the conditions of slaughter and the tracking of Australian cattle to make sure that they end up in facilities that have appropriate conditions. The government is working extensively on both in contact with the representatives of the industry.

I think what this question indicates—and it is an absolutely reasonable question—is it would assist the opposition to get an in-detail briefing from the minister on every question that needs to be answered and how the government is going about actioning and answering those questions through inspections and tracking so that we can know where animals end up and the circumstances of the facilities that they go to. That information can be made available in a very timely way to the opposition, as I indicated through my office this morning. The relevant minister, Minister Ludwig, can make himself available—I cannot speak as to his diary, but I would say almost immediately—to provide that very in-detail briefing to the opposition.