Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Okay. This is no dis­respect to Senator Coonan, but it actually says that Senator Coonan was forewarned of export footage. That is fine. That is not the problem. Here is the problem I have. If I can just quote from the report, it said that Senator Coonan:

… was given the shocking Indonesian abattoir footage by Animals Australia and the RSPCA in confidence, at least one month prior to the ABC Four Corners program airing on May 30.

It goes on to say that Senator Coonan did not see it but her staff did. But the bit that alarmed me—I am quoting Mr Bettles—is:

She—

I assume that is Senator Coonan—

said the animal rights campaigners allowed them to have the vision in an attempt to build Coalition support.

I am not trying to digress, but what I am very alarmed about is that I put a phone call in to Animals Australia at 3.22 pm this afternoon. I spoke to a very friendly young lady there. I was chasing Ms Lyn White, who is the lady who is the face of the animal cruelty campaign. Unfortunately I have not been able to confirm if that is true or not, but I think that says it all. Before I go any further, if that is the way that the RSPCA and Animals Australia conduct their business, that is just disgusting and disgraceful. I think I would have bipartisan support in this chamber. They think they are so smart and so clever that they will use the coalition to build support to bring an industry to its knees. I am not condemning the opposition; I make this very, very clear. How can we, as responsible Australians who have an affinity for anything that is not cruel to animals—as a nation who loves animals—support this? I do not even want these people in my room. If this is the way they do business, they are not welcome in my room. So I hope this message gets out loud and clear to the RSPCA and very loud and clear to Animals Australia: you are not welcome in my room.

Let us get back to the problem that we have in hand. A major problem that we are confronted with—certainly in the Top End of Australia—is, as Senator Scullion put it so brilliantly or so pointedly—