Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to make a short contribution to this disallowance motion. As Senator Lindgren so clearly articulated when she made her contribution, I think society is judged by the way we treat our animals. To shoot or maim an animal for entertainment is a pretty sad indictment on mankind. And to suggest this is okay because the animals are actually bred for this specific purpose I think to some degree actually makes it worse. To have an artificial environment created where you put animals in a confined space and you make them behave in a way that is unnatural to how they would behave in the wild and then to turn around and shoot them for sport is one of the most heinous things I can possibly think of.

Society accepts that the humane use of animals for food and for clothing is an acceptable thing to do. I think we all accept the fact that we have to eat and have to be clothed and that using animals for a specific purpose, as long as they are reared and killed in a humane way, is something that society accepts. Society does not accept canned hunting, and I cannot see that there will ever be a time when society does.

I think the contributions of others that have risen and spoken on this particular disallowance motion and against the position that has been put forward by Senator Leyonhjelm—that this practice should be allowed to continue and that we should continue to import the by-product of this activity—have been very good. It is an abhorrent activity, and even things like duck hunting, which has received quite a lot of adverse publicity in this country, is better than this. At least the animal gets to live in the wild and gets a sporting chance and at least the hunter's intent is to take that animal home to eat. This is not the case with the canned hunting.

But it is not just about lions; it is about any animal that is slaughtered, killed, maimed, teased or tormented for the purpose of sport. This is the thing that we should be condemning. Any country in the world, any person on this earth who thinks it is okay to kill, main, hurt or scare an animal for the simple pleasure of a sport, without any intention whatsoever to use that animal for food is an absolute disgrace.

So I condemn the farming of wild animals for the purpose of killing them for sport and I commend the minister for the action that he has taken in moving this particular regulation. I support the minister's action and I support every other speaker today who stood up in support of banning the importation of this particular by-product into Australia.