Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the documents.

This provides me with an opportunity to comment on and put the record straight on some misinformation that has been presented in this chamber this week relating to two vessels, the Al Shuwaikh, going into the port of Kuwait, and the Ocean Drover, a ship that left Fremantle, discharged sheep successfully at the port of Mina Qaboos, in Oman, and at a port in Qatar, and, upon arriving in Bahrain, there appeared to be a difficulty associated with the remaining sheep. I can assure the chamber that there was no medical or veterinary difficulty associated with those animals. They were the same consignment that had been offloaded in Oman and Qatar. Regrettably, some time elapsed before those sheep were discharged.

The excellent part about this, contrary to the misleading and mischievous statements that have been made in the media and in this place, is that the stock at all times were very well looked after. Their numbers were reduced by a third by virtue of sheep having already been discharged in the other two ports. There was adequate feed, adequate water and the sheep in fact travelled very well.

What eventually did happen as a result of the Bahrainis not wishing to take these sheep—and I assure the chamber again that it was not because of any animal disease circumstance, but certainly a matter beyond that of the shipper or the vendor—was that the sheep were eventually discharged at the port of Karachi, in Pakistan. I compliment the officers of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. I know that it is considered in this chamber that I often do not congratulate or compliment those opposite. On this occasion I do so because they worked very diligently. I also give credit to Minister Ludwig. It is a shame he is not here—he probably would not be able to tolerate his joy! I compliment them for the work that was undertaken by the department to ensure that compliance with the Exporter Supply Chain Assurance Scheme was undertaken so that those stock could be unloaded and discharged in the port of Karachi, further to Karachi being approved for that purpose. It speaks to the excellence of the management of Australian livestock handling at sea, the robustness of the relationship that exists and, on this occasion, the diligence of all those involved to ensure that it did.

In the case of the Al Shuwaikh, the sheep were delayed for some time, but there is a memorandum of understanding in place between Australia and Kuwait, as there are with the other importing countries, and that memorandum of understanding was enacted, so those stock were safely discharged in the port of Kuwait.

This allows me to comment on the excellence of the operations run by Australia, overseen by AMSA, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, and contributed to by government and by industry. It allows me to comment on the excellence of the quality of the vessels and of the management of the livestock on those vessels. No other country is anywhere near Australia when it comes to the standards that we have been able to establish for livestock handling.

I saw in my previous employment in the oil and gas world a great movement take place internationally with the quality of oil tankers to the extent that now every oil tanker licensed to cart oil around the world is double-skinned. In other words it has an inner and an outer surface so that any leak from an inner surface is caught before it escapes. I hope that Australia's leadership in ship design and ship construction and in the inspection and oversight may become international so that we will not have another suggestion—as we again had, mischievously, from Senator Rhiannon in this place—that a ship that got into difficulties off Brazil and its loss of stock had anything at all to do with Australia. Indeed, it had none. Again, I urge that, as Australia leads the world in animal welfare and husbandry and in management standards in the Middle East and the other markets, we extend that leadership internationally to the shipping process so that the movement of stock around the world is as safe. I seek leave to continue my remarks.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.