Lee Rhiannon (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I'm happy to take your interjections. But let's remember that none of those pastoralists involved in the live export trade rely solely on live exports. And this is where these Nationals are such a sellout to regional Australia. Where these Nationals are such a sellout to regional Australia is that if we built the abattoirs, if we got the infrastructure in place so there were all-weather roads leading to those abattoirs, then we could create tens of thousands of jobs in regional Australia.

Again, they voted today. We had a motion in parliament today about live exports. Again, Liberal, Labor and Nationals all voted against it, with the Greens and Derryn Hinch standing up for what should be a win-win in transitioning away from live exports to developing chilled box meat in Australia. In doing that, we would create these thousands of jobs.

You all get up there and beat up on the Greens about jobs. When we recognise that an industry is in transition, we have a jobs plan, and this is certainly one where we have worked with the meat employees union and worked with animal welfare groups, recognising that this is where something can be achieved for animals, for regional Australia and for jobs, bringing back dignity to people who, in many places for generations, haven't had work because of policies that come from the Liberals, Labor and the Nationals.

When we saw that vision, Australians were rightly outraged. I think it's worth revisiting what happened in May 2011, when we saw the first very graphic vision of the live export trade. The Gillard government were in office and they did listen to public opinion. They suspended the trade. They did the right thing. But rather than hold on to the decision that they had made, they just weakened. They gave it away. They didn't look to the future in transitioning out of the live export trade to the boxed chilled meat trade in Australia. We clearly would be able to develop it in a way that the suffering of the animals would be drastically reduced, jobs would promoted and we could boost the economy of Australia, so a win-win-win. It is a fantastic plan, a plan that still should be adopted and, one day, I'm sure, it will be. But because Labor went weak there, we ended up with a shocking decision for the animals, for regional Australia and for the economy.

The Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union has identified that 40,000 jobs were lost due to the live export trade over a number of decades. And independent research also shows that livestock processed in Australia are worth more to the economy, in the case of sheep 20 per cent more.