Mark Furner (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am sure you were. I was as well. My memory is that was aired during estimates and I had to watch it on a downloaded stream later. It shocked me and it shocked many Australians and that is why this is so topical in the media, and this is why this Gillard government has acted decisively and accepted all of the recommendations of the Farmer review on this issue.

If you look at those recommendations, you could summarise it in two points: (1) the way animals are handled and the way animal welfare is handled in respect of the live export trade—that is heart of this particular issue; and (2) jobs. This important point, and Senator Williams and Senator Faulkner also touched on this, is about jobs in regional Australia, jobs and the communities in those areas. I can reflect on that quite easily, being a Queenslander and having been up in the cape on numerous occasions and seeing the extent of jobs in that area.