Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

I very much welcome the opportunity to yet again put on the record this government's strong biosecurity response to foot-and-mouth disease. I will reserve most of my remarks until tomorrow morning, when Senator Roberts has asked me to appear in the chamber. I am glad to see that he is still here; I wasn't sure whether he was. So I will come back with a formal answer to the motion tomorrow.

But I did want to take the opportunity to make a few brief remarks to remind the chamber of the Albanese government's response to foot-and-mouth disease, which, as I have said many times, is the strongest response we have seen from any Australian government to any biosecurity threat in our national history. It is far stronger than any biosecurity response we saw from the former government, whether it be about foot-and-mouth disease—which, we might remind them, first got to Indonesia when they were still in office—or any other biosecurity threat.

We know that the latest the former government was advised about the foot-and-mouth outbreak in Indonesia was on 9 May, when former Minister Littleproud first tweeted about it. We also know that the only thing he did in response to that news was to send a tweet. Did we see foot mats put in airports? No. Did we see foot mats even ordered for airports? No. Did we see biosecurity response zones declared in international airports, as we have done? No. Did we see an increase in biosecurity officers in airports and mail centres? No. Did we see any of the measures that the Albanese government has put in place in response to the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak when Minister Littleproud was the minister, when Senator McKenzie was in cabinet, when Senator Cash was in cabinet, when Senator Scarr was in the government, when Senator Canavan was in the government? When any of these people were in government, did they do any of those things that the Albanese government has put in place to deal with the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak? The answer is no, not one. In fact, Senator McKenzie was so concerned about the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak reaching Bali or reaching Indonesia that she didn't say a word about it.

We have had a look at Senator McKenzie's social media to discern exactly how concerned she was about the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak. Did Senator McKenzie put up anything or express any concern when foot-and-mouth disease hit Indonesia in May, when her government was still in power? Well, she certainly wasn't concerned enough to say anything publicly about it or to put anything in her social media. In fact, when did Senator McKenzie first bother to express concern about foot-and-mouth disease in Indonesia? It wasn't until 19 July. So the outbreak had been in Indonesia for over two months before Senator McKenzie expressed concern. She comes in here, pretends to be the friend of farmers, pretends to be concerned about these issues—she was so concerned about it that she remained absolutely silent for more than two months. It was only when there was a Labor government in power that was taking action about biosecurity and foot-and-mouth disease that she felt concerned enough to even get her thumbs out and send a little tweet or make a little Facebook post.

So don't give me this rubbish about how you people are the people who are concerned about this outbreak. You were the government when this outbreak first got to Indonesia. You didn't do foot mats. You didn't even order foot mats. You didn't do biosecurity response zones. You don't employ extra biosecurity officers. You didn't check every mail package coming in from Indonesia and China, which we are doing. You didn't make the changes to SmartGates, which we are doing. You just sat on your hands, and only one of you sent a tweet.

If you want to have a chat, Senator McDonald, we had a look at your social media. When did Senator McDonald first express concern on social media about this outbreak? Her first post was 14 July. So, Senator McDonald, who likes to claim that she is the guardian of the interests of the cattle industry, was so alarmed by this that she didn't send any posts in May, when the outbreak first got to Indonesia. She didn't even send anything in June. She waited until 14 July before she put anything up on social media. That's how concerned they were. So, while these people were all lounging and having post-election holidays, who was acting to deal with the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak? It was me, and it was this government. That's who was actually doing something. You all went on your holidays. You didn't bother doing any social media. You didn't bother doing any consultation with industry for more than two months, and then you finally woke from your slumber, got your thumbs out and sent a couple of tweets. Job done. Wow, what a big job that is!