Raff Ciccone (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

nator CICCONE (—) (): I do have a lot of respect for Senator Roberts in this place, but I must say that some of the line of questioning that's been put to my friend Senator Murray Watt as the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry is quite questionable. It's fair to say I don't agree with the line of inquiries that Senator Roberts has put to Minister Watt. It is important to note that Minister Watt, time and time again, for the last two weeks in this place has been open, has been honest and has put all the facts on the table in this chamber, before all senators, before the Australian people—and not just here in parliament but outside this building as well—on numerous occasions. But, with the greatest respect, I think Senator Watt has tried to answer Senator Roberts's questions and no doubt will continue to answer his questions as they come to him.

The Australian government is not pretending that this is an easy issue. But what we have said for the last two months that we've been in power—and it is important to always put things into context; context is so important in this place. It is so interesting to see that those opposite, particularly the opposition, have all become experts in foot-and-mouth disease. For 9½ years, they had many opportunities to fix our biosecurity arrangements, particularly around how we fund biosecurity in this country. I know Senator Whish-Wilson has been a longstanding member of the rural and regional affairs and transport committee, which has held several inquiries into all things agriculture, and I look forward to his contributions later this morning. The government of the day failed to seriously address the issues.

This is not just Labor saying this. This is not the Australian Greens saying this. These are peak bodies from agriculture, like the National Farmers Federation. Supposedly, those opposite don't represent farmers now, but they did 2½ months ago. GrainGrowers have come out and congratulated this government for finally establishing an inquiry into biosecurity. AgForce have come out and congratulated this government on finally doing something about addressing the inadequacies of our biosecurity funding arrangements. There is a list of other peak bodies around the country—cattle, the Red Meat Advisory Council and so many others that, quite frankly, I could spend the next seven minutes of my time listing them.

We hear from those opposite that there are some farmers who are quite concerned: yes, and rightly so. But it hasn't helped that those opposite have created a bit of a political campaign for their own internal purposes. They have created this hysteria, this panic, this sense that the sky is going to fall in if we don't do something now, without actually being honest with the constituency that they claim to represent—Australian farmers—about the fact that we are actually doing something. The Australian government is actually doing something to address the foot-and-mouth disease threat. Touch wood, we have not had that outbreak here in Australia, and we are working very strongly with our friends in Indonesia, particularly in Bali, to ensure that foot-and-mouth disease does not come into this country.

It is also worth putting this on the record about these foot mats. The opposition talk about these mats like somehow they're going to stop everything from coming into the country. If they were so concerned about these sanitation foot mats—not foot baths too, for the record, Deputy President, but foot mats—why didn't they put an order in and actually bring these foot mats into the country? Just like with the vaccine rollout that we had during COVID, you can't expect these foot mats to just arrive overnight at our front door. You've actually got to plan and put the orders in to get these mats from overseas. We don't actually have a domestic manufacturing sector in this country anymore; therefore, we can't produce these mats in the country, so we are reliant on overseas supply chains.

What did the National Party do for 9½ years, when they had the portfolio of agriculture, in terms of these foot mats? Nothing. Same old business: 'Wait till an outbreak occurs, and then we'll see and assess what the situation is.' They had the opportunity to actually address the concerns that they are now raising and blaming this government for. This government has only been in for two months and is now trying to fix their mess, which they have left us with.

It's important to put the facts on the table. Having the vaccines—well, we do have enough vaccines to address the initial shock should that virus get into the country, but I think it's also important to get the vaccines overseas into Indonesia, where there is a threat to our agriculture industry. I'm not going to cop the scaremongering, the political stunt, that the opposition—the National Party particularly—have collectively put on today in this place, and neither are other Labor senators.

It is interesting to ask the question: when are the opposition going to listen to the experts? The experts that they relied on when they were last in government are now criticising them. When are you, as the opposition, going to listen to the same experts that government is relying on and listen to the peak bodies—the National Farmers Federation and the many other peak bodies—that have said: 'Labor, you are doing the right job. You are doing what we have been calling for: consulting, working with Indonesia, working with industry'—