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

I will; good point. That's why the farmers despise the Greens so much. They go out there and put laws on them like native vegetation laws where the farmers can't even spray weeds, clear country or do anything, all to appease the Greens and the Greens supporters in the cities. They have no idea of the actual growing of food. The problem they've had is that they've been spoilt in this country. Perhaps if, like in many other countries, they were to go hungry for a few months, they might get a bit of an idea of who actually grows the food in this place. Then again, when it comes to beef and lamb, that may not affect their diets much at all anyway!

So be a bit realistic here. To call for the banning of live exports—can't they see it? It's clear: if we don't supply those two million sheep of live exports, they'll be kept here, abattoirs will overflow with meat, the market will be oversupplied, the price will fall and, most importantly, we'll lose our box sales. Those are sales like the ones that the great Roger Fletcher's works do now, exporting to over 100 countries with box meat. And other countries will fill the gap. Can't the Greens see that? If we don't send those sheep to the Middle East, who are importing nine million live sheep a year when we are doing about two million sheep, other countries are going to do it. Do you think you're going to stop live export of sheep to the Middle East? No, you are not. But whose are the best cared for? Whose are the best presented? Whose are the best prepared? The Australian sheep. The Australian graziers who look after them and produce so well that we've had one bad shipping line, one bad shipping experience.

Of course you get dead sheep. When you run livestock, you'll always have dead stock. Sadly, on our farm, when my wife and I run 300 or 400 sheep, we get the odd dead one as well. And these days, especially with the value of them, it's terrible. It's a tough time out there now in the drought. Many are buying feed from even as far as South Australia. But look after the industries we've got. Preserve them; don't shut them down.

Debate interrupted.