Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What has the coalition and Australia done to the Australian Labor Party? They just dislike us so much. If having to put up with swindle factories being cast over our land and solar factories and transmission lines littering our land and having these electric vehicle standards being forced on us and money for dams and roads being taken away were not enough, we now, with the live sheep trade, actually have them closing down our industries. Today, there's more chance of a sheep dying in a paddock than on a ship, yet they've closed the trade down, and we've got to understand that this is the forerunner of how they see it.

Even the teal member for Curtin, Ms Chaney, was smart enough to realise that you don't start picking on Western Australia if you think you've got an election coming within 12 months. Western Australia is a very parochial place, and, when it comes to a federal election, if they you see you poking a stick in their eye, they're going to deal with you. This is a Western Australian trade, but it affects sheep prices across Australia. The payment for urban eastern staters going to Western Australia and closing down one of the fundamental industries that underpins the standard of living in regional areas is that they will deal with you at the next federal election.