Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Medicare) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yesterday government members who had previously expressed outrage about the cruelty of live sheep exports voted on five occasions to shut down debate on legislation that could have ended the cruelty. This included the member for Farrer and the member for Corangamite, who have their own private members' bill before the parliament and whose actions yesterday did not match their words of earlier this year.

The government's refusal to allow debate on live sheep exports comes after the Senate passed legislation only yesterday that ultimately would end the trade and stop the suffering. So there is now before the parliament a private member's bill, Labor's bill, a Senate bill and even the government's own bill, which the government refuses to debate. In doing so, it is ignoring the Australian people and the will of the Australian Senate. This is a matter that is of interest to the Australian community, including the sheep farmers and exporters who are being left in limbo by an indecisive, dysfunctional coalition government.

Parliament has been grappling with this issue for 40 years. It needs to be resolved. The government can use its numbers to stifle debate, but the issue will not go away. By refusing to debate this issue yesterday, the government succeeded in making live sheep exports an issue right through to the next federal election.