Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

You've never known a manufacturing job you wouldn't want to casualise. We on this side of the chamber know that there is a lot at stake. That is why we are taking this issue incredibly seriously and ensuring that we deliver on the things that need to be done to make sure that we protect our beef industry in Australia.

We understand that, as Senator Hanson raised, there are many factors to this. The senator may be inclined to take up the report of the Senate Environmental and Communications References Committee from last year about our feral pig industry—I know Senator Roberts probably did have a read of that—because this is an issue where we need to do our research and we need to collaborate.

I would encourage the mover of this motion to accept the briefings from the minister, to work collaboratively with the minister, to ask the questions. I appreciate that this is an area of interest for Queensland senators who care about our industries, but we need to understand what the facts are and not listen to the people on the other side of the chamber who did nothing when it came to biosecurity, who did nothing to protect or prepare the resilience of our biosecurity measures. I am sure that the chamber will join—