Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I present a petition from Ms Lynn Newberry. It has 1,051 signatures, and it's about upgrades and reforms to horse abattoirs. I know that she will get a great sense of satisfaction that it's being presented to the Parliament of Australia.

The petition read as follows—

The cruelty shown to horses at Merimist Abattoir on the ABC 7.30 report: The Final Race was unacceptable. We are petitioning the House because export abattoirs fall under Federal Government jurisdiction. While there is no excuse for cruelty, a major difficulty was that the abattoir is designed for cattle, not horses. *The footing is not right for horses causing them to fall down and be trampled by those behind. *The overhead walkways are too low causing them to refuse to go forward into the slaughter area. *There are no doors to prevent horses seeing what is happening to the one being killed. *The actions of untrained personnel cause panic in already frightened animals. *The use of the cattle electric prod only exacerbates the problem.

We therefore ask the House to call for the following upgrades and reforms to horse abattoirs: *Horse appropriate status with doors to prevent horses seeing what is happening to the one ahead. Cattle abattoirs are not suitable for horses. *Standards for animal welfare maintained at the highest level and rigorously policed. *Transparency – cameras and monitoring by independent inspectors. *Banning of the jigger (electric prod). It is already banned in the horse industry. *Training of personnel in equine behaviour to ensure humane treatment.

From 1051 citizens (Petition No. EN1191)

Petition received.

It's proper to acknowledge those who do work for our community and who take the next step. In our great nation, I always believe there are three types of people. There are those who throw papers out the window of a car as they drive along, and they will always be with us. The next group are those who complain about people who throw papers out of the window of a car. You can always hear them—if you go to any dinner party, any barbecue or any pub, you'll hear people talking about other people who throw papers out the window of a car as they drive along. There are signs out talking about finding people who throw papers out the window of a car—who litter. But there's a third group, and they're very important—they're the ones who stop to pick up the papers. They're the people who quietly do their job and take the next step.

I remember a gentleman by the name of Gordon Phelps. He used to get up before dawn every day in St George. He'd fought on the Kokoda Trail in Papua New Guinea, he was a returned serviceman and he'd been a farmer. He had his dog and a wooden pole with a spike on the end of it, and he'd walk along the river picking up papers—spiking them and dropping them in a bin; spiking them and dropping them in a bin. I'd go for a run and run past him, and he was always happy. He never complained about the people who dropped the papers; he just picked up the papers. That was his job, every day. As well as being in Rotary, as well as doing charity work, as well as doing everything else around town, this was another part of what he did. After having served our nation in the Second World War, he was still doing it—at that stage, it would have been around 2010. People like that are the difference.

I want to note some other people in our area of New England: David Briggs, who got an AM in the Australia Day Awards; Andrew Farriss—you probably remember him; he's from INXS and in my area—also got an AM; Vern Turner from Armidale got an OAM; Bill Warburton, who's from North Tamworth, got an OAM for services to the community of Tamworth; Dot Vickery, who I had morning tea with, got an OAM at Guyra; Col Mann got an OAM at Tenterfield for services to aged welfare; and Dr Hutton Oddy got a PSM for outstanding services to the primary industry sector. All these people, and so many others in our nation, are paper picker-uppers. They're the people who make our nation great. They don't just do what's expected of them; they don't even complain about those who do the wrong thing. They just take it upon themselves to make our nation a better place.