Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

No Australian would countenance any activity or any action that in any way was cruel to animals. We are a nation of animal lovers and we feel for our animals, whether they be domestic pets or animals that we produce for our own consumption and for trade. Cruelty to animals is something that is foreign to all Australians. But we mustn't overlook cruelty to our fellow human beings. I know most of the senators who have spoken in this debate come from the capital cities in the south. They don't really understand the cruelty that occurred to human beings, to families, at the time of the live cattle export ban. At the time, the stories were there—and they've been repeated in this chamber time and time again—of families who had to take children out of school, because they simply could not afford to keep them there, because of the sudden ban on the live cattle export trade. Whole communities were devastated at the time. The distress caused to human beings was something that you really had to experience to understand fully.

Apart from Senator O'Sullivan—Senator O'Sullivan, might I say, is a very big exception—none of the senators who have spoken today, none of those from the Greens or the Labor Party, would ever have understood the hurt, the anxiety and the cruelty that happened to many of our rural families at the time of the live cattle export ban. Senators from the capital cities will dismiss it because they don't experience it, but people like Senator O'Sullivan, Senator Williams and I actually deal with and understand those families and understand the hurt, the trauma and the loss of self-respect that occurred at the time of the banning of the live cattle trade. Unless you've seen it, as Senator Williams, Senator O'Sullivan and I and other senators on this side have, you don't understand the cruelty to human beings. Whilst we would never countenance cruelty to animals, we believe we should adopt the same standards for human beings. Those from the Labor Party and the Greens will dismiss that, laugh at it and talk about the importance of preventing cruelty to animals. As I say, no-one would disagree with that, but I wish that, just sometimes, they would get out of their ivory towers in the capital cities and go and see what life is like in those parts of Australia that actually produce the food and fibre that we need for ourselves and that are exported.

I'm a Queensland senator, and there is no live sheep export trade from my state—quite differently to live cattle, which is a very, very significant part of my state—but I do feel equally for the farmers of Western Australia, parts of South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria whose livelihoods and the livelihoods of whose communities very often depend on all aspects of the sheep industry, including the live export of sheep. There are some 1,800 jobs directly dependent upon this live export trade, and none of the speakers, apart from those on this side, seemed to care at all about the welfare and ongoing livelihoods of those workers. In certain parts of Australia the live sheep trade is a very, very significant part of our economy.

We can't on any occasion countenance or condone cruelty to sheep, cattle or any other animal, and we don't. Senators should be aware of the very significant regulations and provisions that were put in place with the live cattle trade to ensure that cruelty did not occur. Without rehashing the debates of those days, one must also realise that the live trade in animals will continue no matter what Australia does. But I think it's recognised around the world that animals being exported live from Australia are treated far more humanely than animals from many other parts of the world. If the Australian trade were to stop, that wouldn't mean the trade in live animals would stop. It would continue because there is a demand for the acquisition of live animals in various parts of the world. So the trade will continue no matter what Australia does. If you're genuinely interested in the welfare of all animals and not just Australian animals then you would prefer Australian regulations and Australia's humanity towards animals to be at the forefront, rather than the way some other countries treat their animals in the export of live animals.

You'll be aware that the government moved quickly to make changes to the welfare of exported livestock. Independent observers were immediately placed on vessels carrying our livestock to the Middle East, and three important reviews were progressed following this latest revelation about the inhumanity and cruelty in the sheep exports trade. The government has accepted all of the recommendations of the McCarthy review of sheep exports to the Middle East during the northern summer. That review, as senators will know, was released on 17 May this year. The review of the Australian standards for export of livestock and the review into the capability powers and culture of the independent regulator will report to the government in due course.

Senators may recall that our former distinguished colleague then Senator Chris Back has contributed his expertise as a veterinarian to some of those reviews. Former Senator Back—and it's a real disappointment that he's left us in the Senate—was a sound and wise head at the time of the live cattle export ban. He knew the industry. He knew the impact various government regulations would have on human beings, not just animals. He knew of the distress caused and actual cruelty that occurred to many people and many communities of people who were affected by that ridiculous decision of a former government. He, more than most, was articulate and passionate about improving the welfare of animals being exported live but, at the same time, the importance of maintaining the communities and families that rely on that trade and that industry.

I often wonder about the Labor Party. They seem to think animals are more important than humans. Animals are important, but I know up my way, diverging slightly into the question of crocodiles versus human beings, it would seem that the Labor Party and certainly the Greens political party in my state of Queensland far prefer the life of a crocodile to the life of a human being. Crocodiles in Queensland have multiplied exponentially. They used to just be in remote parts of Queensland. They are now swimming along the beaches of Townsville, where I have my office and where tourists used to go swimming along the beach. We now have crocodiles there. But will the Greens political party or the Labor Party do anything about it? They say: 'Oh, no, the poor crocodile! He must stay there. It doesn't matter if he eats a couple of human beings along the way'—as has happened.