Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There have been significant animal health regulatory changes made to the live sheep industry: a moratorium on shipments to the Middle East during the northern hemisphere summer; increased space—up to 38 per cent more than in 2017—for each animal on ships, as well as improved ventilation requirements; the introduction of independent government observers to monitor the effectiveness of exporter shipboard arrangements; a heat management plan to identify ways to mitigate potential risks; phasing out older ships and upgrading others in response; automatic environmental sensors to log daily temperatures and humidity on each deck; and investigations into any voyage where the mortality rate is one per cent or more. That's pretty good news, you'd think. I think that's pretty good news, noting the member for O'Connor is in the House here with me today.

Labor's determination to shut down the live sheep trade, I believe—and I think is there for all of us to see—is yet another anti-WA Albanese government decision.

Honourable member s interjecting—

I know that Labor think that this is a vote winner for their east coast city dwellers and that it's simply to please the uneducated activists. But the live sheep trade is important to Western Australia, and it's very important to Western Australian farmers. It is worth at least $100 million to our economy. The question is, which important Western Australian industry will the Albanese government come after next? (Time expired)