Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the private senator's bill the Animal Export Legislation Amendment (Ending Long-haul Live Sheep Exports) Bill 2018. Of course, this piece of legislation has arisen from the very disturbing footage that we all saw, I think, on the Four Corners program back in April, where a number of sheep on the Emanuel Exports ship were overcrowded and clearly overheated. It was profoundly upsetting, and I can understand exactly why this bill has come about in response to that. However, live sheep exports, as we know, form a very large part of the Australian agriculture industry, and the Morrison coalition government is a very strong supporter of industry in this country, unlike those who are trying to shut this down. The live export trade is certainly not a small industry. It is made up of farmers large and small across our great nation. In fact, I'm sure you've all heard the phrase that Australia is a country whose prosperity has ridden on the sheep's back.

The live sheep trade in Australia has a very long and highly regulated history. It began in the 1830s, believe it or not, when Victoria and Tasmania began domestic live sheep trade with fleets of 15 to 20 ships carrying loads of somewhere between 300 and 1,000 sheep. By the late 1800s, Australia had begun exporting live sheep overseas. They were first exported from Western Australia in 1845. By 1895, over 1,000 sheep were being sold for slaughter in Singapore.

In 1926, interestingly, the Commonwealth introduced the Navigation (Deck Cargo and Live Stock) Regulations. It was the first time the livestock export industry was regulated, and these regulations dealt with such things as the provision of feed and water for that livestock and protection from the weather in addition to drainage and the construction and cleaning of pens and stalls. Those regulations remained largely unchanged until the introduction of the Marine Orders Part 43 (Cargo and cargo handling—livestock) legislation in 1983, so quite a considerable period of time had elapsed.

In fact, the modern sheep export trade began in about 1945-46 when more than 24,000 sheep were sent from Western Australia to Singapore. The Middle East trade commenced in the early 1960s with the introduction of two small ships, each having a capacity of about 6,000 sheep. Prior to 1970, livestock were carried in quite small ships or as deck cargo. By the mid-1970s, ships capable of carrying around 50,000 sheep were coming into service. These were mainly converted oil tankers that had been redeployed after the 1973 oil crisis. Larger ships were subsequently converted to carry up to 125,000 sheep at a time.

When we started exporting live sheep to the Middle East in the 1970s, the unions were in fact the ones that kicked up the most fuss. It was the AMIEU at that stage who felt that they were being retrenched as a result of the closure of abattoirs. They blamed the expansion of the live sheep export trade for those closures. In 1982, in March and April, the Australian sheepmeat study mission to the Middle East examined the demand for sheepmeat in the Middle East, and the majority report concluded there was, in fact, no close substitute for freshly slaughtered or hot meat among the indigenous Arab population. In the dissenting report of the AMIEU at the time, the members concluded that the marketing initiatives by Australian exporters would expand the consumption of chilled and frozen mutton.

I thought this was quite interesting: in 1983, a severe cold snap hit Victoria and approximately 15,000 sheep died in the Portland feedlots as a result of cold, stress and exposure. This was in fact the event that focused the attention of animal welfare organisations and government authorities on the trade. As you can see, animal welfare has been at the forefront of the Australian livestock export industry for many, many years. In more recent times, the coalition government has maintained a very consistent position on the regulation of this sector, ensuring best practice is adhered to.

It is still a very important industry to Australia. The Australian livestock export industry provides over 13,000 jobs, including 11,000 in rural and regional areas, to Australian workers, and in some parts of Australia it is the entire backbone of the community and of the economy. The supply of Australian livestock also ensures that hundreds of thousands of households across Asia and the Middle East have access to essential and affordable protein—as mentioned by Senator Leyonhjelm previously. These countries do not have the resources or the geography to efficiently produce livestock to feed their own people. Australia is very much at the forefront of the demand for livestock exports. Some time ago, the federal government released its Asian century white paper, which showed that Australia had a very important role to play in providing food to Asia's growing population. Livestock exports are a fundamental part of that food solution.

Earlier this year—as you well know, Acting Deputy President—the coalition government commissioned veterinarian Dr Michael McCarthy to conduct a review into the live export trade in response to that shocking Four Corners program. You will remember that the Minister for Agriculture, David Littleproud, said at the time that there would be no kneejerk reaction over the deaths of thousands of sheep in a live export consignment. He said that, despite the industry concern that the trade could be damaged or shut down, the response should not be kneejerk. He said he was 'shocked and gutted' by the footage, and he warned that those doing the wrong thing were 'going to get nailed'. That response prompted a little bit of concern from the industry that there would be damage to the trade, but Mr Littleproud said he would support farmers and exporters who did the right thing. He also said, however, that he would not be afraid to call out and take strong action against those who had not fulfilled their responsibilities. He suggested that we would need to create an environment where groups, whistleblowers and individuals are comfortable and confident to come forward, so that those who are doing the wrong thing can be identified and dealt with appropriately.

The WA Pastoralists and Graziers Association president, Tony Seabrook, said that despite the distressing nature of the incidents that were reflected on the Four Corners program, they did not reflect the standards of the wider live export industry. He said also that the release of the footage was motivated not by those who were responsible but by activists who were, in fact, intent on shutting the industry down for whatever motives they may have had:

"There are a group of people totally committed to shutting the industry down, they don't give a damn about the impact it might have throughout the whole length and depth of northern Australia," Mr Seabrook said.

"There's nobody in rural Australia that deals with sheep and cattle that wants to see this sort of thing happen but what does need to be recognised is that we stand like a beacon in the darkness when it comes down to animal welfare standards, especially live export."

That does seem to be the response of the McCarthy review.

Dr McCarthy's task was to review the health and welfare of sheep being transported to the Middle East during the Northern Hemisphere summer. There were 23 recommendations and the coalition government—as has already been said here this morning—accepted all 23 of those recommendations, with further review into one of those. The Department of Agriculture and Water Resources, as the independent regulator, began implementing those recommendations immediately. The changes to the regulation of the trade included a reduction in the stocking densities so that fewer sheep will be carried on a vessel at any given time. I think that that was probably one of the most shocking things about the footage: the overcrowding, which you could only imagine must intensify the already oppressive heat on those ships. Reducing stocking densities means that sheep will get up to 39 per cent more space. Stocking densities are being reduced by up to 28 per cent. That was one of the first of Dr McCarthy's recommendations. The reportable mortality level will also be halved, from two to one per cent, which means that, if more than one per cent of sheep die, that must be reported and investigated. This is a significant change.

All vessels carrying sheep to the Middle East during the Northern Hemisphere summer will be equipped with automated watering systems. I have to admit that I thought this was a shocking one. The fact those automated watering systems didn't already exist took me by surprise. However, that will no longer be the case. In addition, independent observers—and this is particularly important—are being placed on every livestock export voyage by sea from Australia, not just the sheep voyages, during the northern summer. Those independent observers will be reporting directly to the independent regulator.

These are very strong steps to ensure that this industry can continue into the future. It is truly important that it does, because there may be considerable ramifications should the live export industry slow down in the future. It is still a major source of income to farmers, particularly in WA. The demand for live sheep in the Middle East is as high as ever. For cultural, historical and economic reasons, the majority of countries in the Middle East have demand for over 50 per cent of their sheep for processing and slaughter to come locally to them. It highlights the importance of this industry to Australia.

It is important to note, as mentioned earlier by Senator Dean Smith, that the live export industry in Australia produces very, very high welfare outcomes and continues to improve, reducing mortality rates on average from 0.89 per cent in 2010 to 0.71 per cent in 2017. In fact, the entire industry, one could say, is being unfairly judged on actions that are not representative of the industry as a whole, by virtue of a few bad players.

If concern genuinely is for the welfare of the sheep, surely there would be a demand for Australia to remain in this industry and to lead by example as the most responsible international participant, as the country who has such a good record of animal welfare, not just in sheep exports but also in other forms of livestock. Theoretically, there should be more calls for Australia to stay in the market and to lead this sector. In conclusion, the acceptance of all 23 McCarthy recommendations is potentially the best example of that leadership. While this bill should be admired for its intentions, its outcomes would be catastrophic not just for the WA live sheep industry but for Australia's economy as a whole.