Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation) Share this | Hansard source

Senator O’Brien, if he were to be silent for a while and stop all the hubris that the opposition has been going on with for the last two days and if he were actually willing to listen, would know that we as a government have said that these issues are of such a serious nature that they deserve investigation by the highest possible sort of inquiry. Hence retired High Court judge Ian Callinan has been appointed to undertake an inquiry. The inquiry will not be stifled. In fact, when Mr Callinan and the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Mr McGauran, went to the media to announce the inquiry, Mr Callinan was asked whether his terms of reference would be good enough and he made comments to the effect that if he thought he needed broader terms of reference he would in fact ask for them—and Mr McGauran indicated that they would be granted.

What else would a responsible opposition want other than a full, transparent inquiry? A responsible opposition would stop there and congratulate the government on that initiative. An irresponsible opposition would seek to make political capital out of the plight of an industry that is worth $3.6 billion to the Australian economy, has 10,000 commercial horses and employs I do not know how many thousands of people on a part- and full-time basis right around this country, especially in rural and regional areas. Can I indicate that when there is an outbreak of a particular disease—and it has happened under Labor governments, it has happened under a coalition government and it will continue to happen into the future as long as we have international travel and international trade—what we need to do is try to minimise the risk as much as possible. Above all, what the Australian people want is government—their Commonwealth government and their state governments—and opposition cooperating in moments of emergencies like this, not the sort of cheap politicking that we have been exposed to by Senator O’Brien.