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

Sure. I note that Senator Scarr didn't bother to jump when various personal reflections were made against members on the side of this chamber, but that's a member for you, Senator Scarr.

As I said, I welcome any opportunity to get up and talk about the strong biosecurity response from this government. I've already listed the things that we did which the former government didn't bother doing in any of the time that they were in office. Not only did they not take any of these actions in response to the outbreak in Indonesia, they never took action in any way, such as this government has done, about any of the foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks that occurred during their time in office. They were in office for nearly 10 years. In response to any of the 70 outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease across the world in the time that they were in power, did they put down foot mats? No. Did they order foot mats? No. Did they declare national biosecurity zones? No. Did they do any of the things that we did? There were 70 outbreaks across the world, and not once did they do any of the things that this government has done. As I said the other day, this government has done more on biosecurity in nine weeks than the former government did in nine years. It's no surprise, then, that industry has had a fair bit to say about the government's response and about the way the opposition has handled this matter.

It's disappointing that we continue to see members of the opposition continue with the alarmist rhetoric that they were carrying on with last week. I know that you've all heard the calls from industry, asking you to pull your heads in. I know that. You know that. You've all had the calls saying, 'You are damaging our reputation overseas through your alarmist rhetoric.' I know that you have had the same calls that I have had from industry saying that overseas customers are watching what you are saying and it is already impacting on our trade. I know you've had those calls. I've had the calls as well. You really need to reflect on what you're doing and on your continued hysteria around this very serious issue.

Turning to the false claims of both Senator Roberts and Senator McKenzie about the way I have responded to these issues, if you'd actually bothered to look, you'd see I came into the chamber the other day and provided answers to Senator Roberts's questions and Senator McKenzie's questions. Those answers have already been provided. You like to get up and say that we haven't responded to things. Those answers have been provided, so maybe you should go back and have a look at your own inboxes to see what's there.

In the process of making these accusations, Senator McKenzie in particular has verballed me on at least two occasions. I have never accused farmers of being hysterical about the response. The people I have accused of being hysterical are members of the National Party and other members of the opposition. That's who is being hysterical here. If you don't want to believe me on this, refer back to the comments from one of the leaders of NSW Farmers last week, who said that he was disgusted that this was being politicised and that certain people were fanning the flames. I wonder who he was talking about. So if you want to think about who is being hysterical here, have a good look in the mirror. It's not about farmers. Farmers quite understandably have concerns about this risk, and their concerns are being escalated and wound up by people who are playing politics, by people who are being labelled by the industry as playing politics. That's who is being hysterical here.

Senator McKenzie keeps making the claim that I have misled parliament. It is absolute bollocks. She continues to quote selectively from answers that I have provided to the chamber. I can direct her to the Hansard of the day we're talking about where I was very clear. I will read out what I said to the chamber: 'I will confirm yet again—I'm probably up to five times, six times, seven times'—I actually think I'm probably up to about 28 times now. For the 28th time, I can confirm 'that 100 per cent of passengers since the foot mats were in place on Monday and Tuesday' have walked through those foot mats. That's what I said. You know it and you continue to verbal me.