Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party, Leader of The Nationals in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy President, might I congratulate you on what will be your last take note debate.

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs and Workplace Relations (Senator Evans) and the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry to questions without notice asked by opposition senators today.

If you want the classic example of people who can walk the walk, fly the fly, travel around the world and create an absolute debacle in our trade with one of our most important neighbours, it is what the Australian Labor Party has done in regard to the live cattle trade. Not only did they fail to consult with the Western Australian govern­ment about one of the major industries in their state, not only did they fail to consult with their own colleagues in the Northern Territory about one of the major industries of the Northern Territory and not only did they fail to consult with Queensland; they also failed to consult with the country that we rely on for so much, including our border protection, the people of Indonesia.

This has been an absolute disaster, and we must note exactly where this is leading. We heard the demonstrators the other day down in Sydney and what they aspire to. What do my colleagues in the Senate aspire to? They aspire to a vegan society. We are about to all become vegans—we are about to transform ourselves from eating meat to being hunters and gatherers on the forest floor living on a diet of beetles and nuts!