Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

I rise this evening to speak once again on a topic that's very close to my heart given both my background with a family farm and that I am so close to this industry. Before coming to this place I was for some time a policy director with the Pastoralists and Graziers Association, where I dealt with both the sheep and cattle livestock industries in Western Australia. I have an obvious affinity and love for the agricultural industries, and the live export industry is a key part of that broader industry.

If I've said this once, I've probably said it a thousand times, and I'm going to say it again: we do not just export livestock; we export the highest animal welfare standards in the world. We export those to our trading partners, who in many cases do not necessarily have the same standards that we have. So, in ensuring that the livestock coming out of Australia are handled through our ESCA System and through world-class facilities with a very careful attention to detail in both the transportation and handling of that livestock, we are exporting the highest level of animal welfare standards to the world.

This government is committed, in fact, to growing the value of agriculture by facilitating trade and increasing market access around the world, including a strong and sustainable livestock export industry that underpins the livelihoods of family farms. And it's not just those family farms. I know those family farms well; I was out just last week with my good friend Rick Wilson, the member for O'Connor, in places such as Darkan, Kojonup and Katanning, and I've visited many other farming communities before. It's not just the farming families that seek to preserve this industry with the highest standards. It's the truckies. It's the feedlot operators. It's the yard hands, the stock hands in those feedlots and on board the ships. It's the hay producers, the pelletisers that produce the feed for those voyages. It's the mechanics. It's the shearers. It's the veterinarians that keep the livestock healthy.

This industry spreads right throughout regional Western Australia in particular, and it's important to remember that this is a $1.7 billion industry. It supports around 10,000 jobs directly. In the case of the sheep part of the livestock industry, that's mainly in my home state of Western Australia and it's mainly in one federal electorate: O'Connor. It also extends into the federal electorate of Durack, of another good friend, Melissa Price, and there is a small quantity sourced out of South Australia. But the vast majority of the live export trade in sheep comes out of one electorate, and that means it doesn't necessarily have the political muscle. What it does have is the strong support of this side of the house, this side of the Senate and this side of the other chamber. The government is a strong supporter, committed to the economic wellbeing, the sustainability of the live export sector, with the highest levels of animal welfare and with a regulatory regime that is absolutely based on the best available science.

You've got to remember that the vast majority of live export voyages are undertaken without incident. In fact, the most recent voyage that happened during the northern summer moratorium period, under an exemption, had an absolutely outstanding result: 33,341 sheep and a mortality rate of 0.08 per cent. There were 28 mortalities, not one of them attributable to heat stress. I challenge all those who talk about the contents of this independent observer's report and selectively pick from the report to go onto the website and watch the time-lapse footage of the sheep aboard that ship throughout that entire journey. The footage is available, and I would encourage all those Australians who have concerns about the industry to go and watch that footage, because that footage will demonstrate that the welfare of those animals was very well looked after throughout the voyage. It's there for everyone to see.

This is an area where the industry has grasped the issues they faced in the past couple of years and made significant improvements. They are committed to openness and transparency. That is why, through organisations such as the Sheep Collective and the Cattle Collective, they are publishing extraordinary amounts of information, available to the general public, so that they can see the reality—not the confected reality that some in the activist community want to portray but the reality of what is happening on these live export voyages. You can see this for yourself if you go to the Facebook pages or websites of the Sheep Collective and the Cattle Collective. Together they call themselves the Livestock Collective. You can see the time-lapse footage for yourself, and I would encourage every Australian who has some concerns to go and look at that footage. Don't trust the words of the activists; you cannot.

In the few minutes I have remaining I want to quote from the conclusion of the independent observer's report—again, to demonstrate that this was a highly competent exercise, an export vessel that was undertaken with the highest levels of probity and care for the livestock involved:

Exporter arrangements were observed to be implemented during the voyage, and to be compliant with ASEL requirements. The observer stated that the causes of the mortalities were not linked to any systemic failure of the exporter. The observer described that the AAV,—

That's the Australian authorised veterinarian—

stockpersons, vessel's officers and crew carefully monitored sheep during their daily activity routines and were committed to the positive outcomes for sheep.

And this is not just aboard that vessel; this is right across the industry.

Having come from a farming background, having spent many thousands of hours with farmers on farm, in yards, in shearing sheds, I know that the vast, vast, vast majority of this industry is absolutely committed to the highest standards of animal welfare. And anyone who says otherwise is, quite frankly, lying. The industry is committed to improvement, and you can see that in the hard data. If you look at the mortality rate for live export vessels going back over a period of years you see a slow and steady decline in the level of mortalities. You see constant improvement.

Yes, the industry has improved its activity over the last two years in the face of some public concern and strong government action, but that is not the industry coming late to this party. It has been on a constant journey of improvement for decades. That is something that I am absolutely committed to making sure Australians understand through my voice in this place. The livestock industry has been committed to the welfare of animals throughout my life and continues to do everything it can to improve standards whilst supplying the highest quality protein to our important trading partners. The industry has demonstrated that it has a strong, ongoing and enduring commitment to the welfare of livestock and to supporting our overseas markets that we've developed over time and which we would leave in a very difficult position if we were to ever even hint at withdrawing from them.

So, once again, I commend the industry for the changes and the constant improvements they've made over a very long period of time. I look forward to rising in this place at future points to continue to talk on this very important topic.