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

There are so many things this is apparently about! What this is about is delivering an election commitment. What this is about is delivering an election commitment that we took to the last two elections—to phase out a trade that collapsed under the National Party leadership of the agricultural portfolio. That's what happened with this trade. We know that Senator McKenzie, Mr Littleproud and all the Nats are working themselves up about this policy. What they haven't told the farmers of Western Australia is that, over the decades the Liberals and Nationals were in government, live sheep exports by sea decreased by 1.5 million head, amounting to $144 million. If you want to talk about getting rid of the trade of live exports of sheep, maybe have a look at your own record. You reduced the exports of live sheep by 1.5 million over your decade in office, valued at $144 million.