Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia) Share this | Hansard source

Why would you think, Mr Acting Deputy President, that the Labor Party would get the live export supply chain regime correct? They completely messed up the pink batts arrangement. They completely confused the Green Loans scheme. They have had six changes so far on the carbon tax legislation. They brought in a flood tax that penalised ordinary householders but not the big multinational companies. They have a mining tax which has already seen a real impact and slowdown in our mining operations and Australian investment in it.

I am sad to learn that, today, BHP has announced that the Gregory mine, near Emerald, will be closing, with 55 jobs lost. These are 55 workers that the Labor Party is supposed to be looking after, and 242 contractors, small businessmen, will go because of the closure of the Gregory mine. Xstrata have today announced that 600 jobs will go from their coalmines, and the South Australian economy is reeling under the Olympic Dam stoppages and the delay in the Australian Submarine Corporation's work because this government cannot pay the bills. So, with all of those failures—and the Gillard government are synonymous with failures—why would you think that they would get the live export regime right?

I am one of those softies. I, like every other Australian, including all pastoralists, loathe animal cruelty. I even had to have the vet come around to my house to put down our old cat because I could not bear the thought of taking the cat to the vet to spend its last moments on earth in a strange place. We all want to ensure that none of our animals are poorly treated. I also want to make sure that human beings are not badly treated. Senator Furner pretends that he goes up into the bush of Queensland. We know that he does not, because if he did go up there he probably would not come back in one piece.

People up in the bush areas, the northern cattle industry, are just devastated by the work of Senator Ludwig and the Labor government. It is the suicides that are happening up in those communities now. Do we have the Greens worrying too much about those?

Senator Williams interjecting—

As Senator Williams said, where are all the emails and the outrage from the Greens about the stoning to death of women? No, we do not see that, but we do see live animal export bringing this huge, confected public outcry. What about the outcry for those human beings who are suiciding because of the work of the Greens political party and Senator Ludwig? Because of Senator Ludwig's action, taken at the behest of the Greens because the Greens keep this dysfunctional government in power—where is the concern about the suicides that are happening directly because of the actions of Senator Ludwig and the Greens political party?