Judith Adams (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

What an invitation! Thank you, Senator Bilyk. As a farmer for 38 years in the Great Southern area breeding both cattle and sheep for export I think that I do know what I am talking about and I feel very sorry for my colleagues who are in the Kimberley, the Northern Territory and Far North Queensland. We do have one senator from Western Australia on your side that does understand the industry but I do not think that anyone else does.

I want to get on to the World of Animal Welfare and the RSPCA. This afternoon I received an email from a colleague of mine who runs Three Rivers Station in the Murchison in Western Australia. He has pointed to the Teacher's guide to live export on the net being put forward by the RSPCA. He says:

I've had enough. I've recently been made aware of the Teacher's guide to live export for Australian schools prepared by the RSPCA developed by the World of Animal Welfare. It is delivered in a completely biased and grossly inaccurate manner in a deliberate ploy to sway the minds of impressionable young children with two guides prepared for target audiences of nine to 13 and 14 and over. Not only do I find it morally bankrupt to be involving children in this manner, it especially infuriates me that Australian taxes are being spent on such an initiative through the government funding of the RSPCA.

I could not agree more. It is headed up, 'Teacher's guide to live exports'. It says:

The following information is designed to assist you in delivering age appropriate information and providing students of all ages with ways in which they can help.

Guess what? We have a picture of sheep going up a race to go onto the ship. We do not have cattle. So obviously sheep are next to be banned from live export. It describes live exports:

Every year millions of Australian animals are exported live for slaughter. Cattle, sheep and goats are sent all over the globe, ending up in countries where animal welfare laws do not protect them. Many thousands of animals don’t even survive the sea voyage and those that do are subjected to handling, transport and slaughter in importing countries that is cruel and well below Australian standards.

The ships that carry these cattle, goats and sheep have a fatality rate on them that is less than if these animals were out in the paddock, so these sorts of statements being given to students gives completely the wrong message. And then guess what. There is a letter here about how to write to the Prime Minister:

Let the government know how you feel about live exports. Write your own letter to the Prime Minister to help end this cruel and unnecessary trade.

  …   …   …

Dear Ms Gillard,

After learning about the cruel and barbaric treatment of animals that are exported to Indonesia, I am asking you to call an immediate ban on all live exports. This trade simply will not be tolerated by the Australian public and we must act fast to stop any more animals from suffering.

It goes on to describe how the animals travel overseas, which is absolutely not right. This is the propaganda that is being given to our schoolchildren.

I go on to Mrs Christine Glenn from Ashburton Downs in the Pilbara. They are cattle producers. They have cattle waiting to go. They are really having problems. She said they were in drought last year and she is very worried that rural children and, more importantly, isolated children will be exposed to an even greater divide if basic schooling is not provided due to their geographic location. The problem here is the concern that it is fine to say Centrelink is supporting these families; unfortunately, any child going to boarding school is receiving no assistance whatsoever. As she says here, they were in drought last year and have no income this year. The income for this year was to come from their live cattle shipment, which now will not go ahead. Husband has to go off farm to earn an income, leaving her to run the station and teach the children through School of the Air. The boarding school children will not be able to stay there. So these are the runoffs from this particular issue that was decided overnight. I can assure you that, if any other trade were stopped overnight, it would be a circus. But it is fine to do this to the cattle people and later to sheep because there are not that many of them.

To quote: 'As an industry we've been disgusted with the complete lack of knowledge, awareness and understanding that has been displayed by the Prime Minister and Senator Ludwig and their complete indifference as a tsunami of economic destruction travels through Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland. The Prime Minister does not seem to be aware that their handling of this matter may be subject to a wide-scale legal action, as people will be forced to seek damages. Neither the Prime Minister or Senator Ludwig met with anyone in Indonesia or Australia to determine the consequences of their decision three or four weeks ago. Hundreds of jobs have been lost that may not be recovered, as many pastoralists will go to the wall on the basis of this suspension.' She continues: 'Our Prime Minister's decision has been at the cost of a whole generation's education. Our children's education has been denied, as we will not be able to cover the $15,000 to $30,000 required to send each child away to boarding school after the rebate. This is not a choice.'

That is what is happening on that issue. She also goes on to say: 'WA currently has a severe shortage of hay. There is not the feed on the ground due to two years drought and a 4,000 kilometre average to our closest slaughter point.' As Senator Back has said, these cattle are not the cattle that will go south, because they have been bred specifically to cover the Indonesian market. It has taken a long time to get that breed in.

Last Friday Senator Back and I attended a forum run by the Pastoralists and Graziers Association of Western Australia in Katanning. As President Rob Gillam says:

Livestock producers throughout Western Australia are now demanding that their livelihoods be returned to them.

  …   …   …

WA is the largest livestock export state in Australia, with over 350,000 cattle and 2.5 million sheep exported annually, yet the Minister cannot even be bothered to come over and meet with the pastoralists whose livelihoods have been affected by his actions.

Such losses are unacceptable in any industry and the Prime Minister has no choice but to remove her Minister from his portfolio and replace him with someone who will regain the confidence of Western Australian livestock producers.

I would also like to inform the Senate that a website has been set up by four women in Western Australia called Save Australian Farming. It is headed up by Jane Marwick, and the website is www.saveaustralianfarming.org. That will be up and running on Friday, and you can register on the domain now. I think it is very important that we get support for this to continue the export trade. As far as the animal husbandry goes, that is being well and truly looked at, and for the government to say that they could not have continued the trade, with three abattoirs with the closed loop circuit that they could have kept going they could at least have kept Indonesia on side. But, unfortunately, the diplomatic issues that are going to arise from this are very sad and very serious. A number of contracts ended on 30 June, and we may not have any contracts now until October—if we can get this mess fixed up.

One last thing: Kirsty from Nita Downs Station thought that the cattle that were being held in the yards on the station would be eligible for the cattle disease contingency fund. No. It is just cattle held in registered pre-embarkation premises designed for live export but unable to be exported due to the suspension of cattle exports to Indonesia. Those are the criteria. Therefore, those cattle that are being held on stations in yards and being fed will probably all end up over the limit of 350 kilos, because once they are being hand fed they put on weight. As you can see from TV footage, these cattle are not agitated; they are quite content to be eating their high-protein feed.

So these people are in a terrible situation. The mental health issues are very serious. (Time expired)