John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

This was a disgraceful slur on the shearers and the wool industry as a whole. Agriculture minister Barnaby Joyce describes as 'a pack of lies' the campaign video by animal rights group PETA. Mr Joyce said that the video star guitarist Jona Weinhofen, from the band I Killed the Prom Queen, was a man 'living in vegan splendour' in California and who had little knowledge of shearing practices in Australia.

Being a shearer for some 27 years part time I know the care that the shearers take in looking after the sheep, as do the graziers as well. We get emails from Ms Claire Fryer, Campaign Coordinator of PETA Australia, and phone calls to Senator Heffernan, saying that we should not be running sheep. I hope that these people do not have woollen jumpers, woollen suits or woollen coats in their wardrobes, making hypocrites of themselves. The wool industry built this modern nation of Australia through wool exports. The people who work in the industry are good, hardworking, decent people and they do not deserve to have this propaganda spread against them.