Stephen Parry (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The President has received a letter from Senator Fifield proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the Senate for discussion, namely:

The Gillard Government's decimation of the live cattle trade to Indonesia and the catastrophic consequences for family farms and supporting businesses.

I call upon those senators who approve of the proposed discussion to rise in their places.

More than the number of senators required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise, sadly, to speak about a situation that certainly two months ago no-one would have possibly thought was going happening. It was at the end of the wet—it has been a very long wet—and people were very keen to get out on the properties, starting to do those things that make a business, and that is move cattle off the place, provide an invoice and actually get some funds back in the system, because they have not had a pay cheque since October.

This has been a fantastic industry. Over the last 20 years they have gone through some major changes. They have actually changed even the breed of the cattle. Instead of having shorthorns that, although they were doing well, it was a bit of a struggle—it was very hard to get into markets and it was a long distance away. With the innovation of Australians, they changed the animal they grew. They went to Bos indicus—a brahman zebu breed—and they have bred to the country since then. Trucking companies sprang up to support the industry. Ships decided that Darwin was a major port. They developed the trade overseas, particularly into Indonesia and the Philippines. They developed feedlots. They have gone through processes of developing feedlots that met the very highest standards, trucks that carted cattle at the very highest standards and ships that did the same.

That was not always the case. I can recall times when there was a lot of concern about the distances that cattle had to go and trying to keep that in sync with the responsibilities at the same time of ensuring that the driver had enough sleep. It was a very difficult process. We developed wet markets. We developed transport chains. I am talking about little trucks and little buses that go throughout the Indonesian archipelago taking Australian beef to very small markets. None of that was around 20 years ago. This is a massive amount of infrastructure. The feedlots require fodder and that fodder is grown by over a million people involved in the industry producing that fodder. The feedlots directly involve about 8,000 personnel. That is 8,000 families in Indonesia that depend very much on this trade.

We also have a growing appetite and a growing market for Australian beef. In fact, if every Indonesian simply ate one kilo more of beef every year, it would increase by almost double the current export levels. It is a market that has a huge future.

It is a truly international industry partner­ship. This is where we have industry in Indonesia, Indonesian businessman, who are in joint ventures in many cases in the development of this industry with Australia. It is truly an international industry.

Sadly, that changed pretty quickly. We had the Four Corners report, images which I think most of us now acknowledge were selected to provide what we all know now is an unbalanced story. Everybody said and I will say it again—any of the things that we saw are unconscionable and they should never happen again not only to Australian cattle but to all cattle. But then we had not cyclone, not a pestilence or some major disease that can ravage industries like this; we did not even have an act of God—we had an act of Gillard! She should have just continued to listen to Minister Ludwig when he said, 'We will close 11 of the abattoirs because we know those are the sorts of places that we don't want Australian cattle to go. It sent a clear signal. The industry straight away ensured that they were not going to go to those abattoirs and in fact started discussions across the divide to ensure that all the Australian cattle throughout the chain were going to go through and assurance process to ensure that these sorts of things did not happen again.

This closure seems to have gone forever. It has been a few weeks but in terms of the impact on industry, since I have lived in the Northern Territory—a very long time, since 1984—I have never seen the like of this. I have never seen the like of the impact on the communities. Up and down the track particularly we have almost all the businesses, whether you are Katherine, Tennant Creek, Alice Springs or parts of Darwin, dependent on the industry. I have been a bit surprised about how many businesses, whether they sell cars, parts, food to the stations, whatever it is, everybody has been impacted. It has had an absolutely enormous impact right across the divide. Some have told me that it has impacted on people in such a way that if they knew that this business was over and they were not able to cart cattle until next year they would be better off. They would be better off because they would actually have a clear vision of the environment in which they were operating. They would know they have to get another job, close down the station, sack people and make some decisions. But the environment at the moment has absolutely no clarity whatsoever.

The minister again today stood up and rolled out the normal garbage: 'Not a day longer; let me make this clear.' Industry need more than that. They need some security because there is only one thing that is consistent across this industry and across these businesses—whether you are a worker, an Aboriginal stockman or you own the station—and that is that the banks are relentlessly pursuing you to ensure that those relationships with the bank are held up. It is not only about those immediacies and them suddenly saying there is going to be a foreclosure. They are not the issues we are concerned about. It is having a default on a loan and then because of the default on a loan or an overdraft your interest rate goes up by two per cent. So what was today almost bloody impossible tomorrow becomes unfathomable, thus the stress levels of knowing you are mortgaged to a certain position, knowing you could probably hold out in a tough year but suddenly you know that there will likely be no income for at least another month. What the minister needs to clearly understand is this is not an industry where you can ring a bell or blow a whistle and suddenly it can all start again.

The one fundamental part of this that those on the other side may not have noticed is that we have to ship the cattle. If you check the ports out, there are no ships. Those workers have had to go and get another job; they cannot just sit around. It costs you $150,000 a day to hold these boats there. We are going to pay huge, obscene amounts of demurrage. That is why we want to try to avoid paying demurrage—no-one can afford to pay it. The ships have gone to ply their trade, a dedicated trade, in other parts of the world. What will they be doing? They will be carrying cattle to markets with the most demand. Unsurprisingly, that market has just been created in Indonesia by this govern­ment. There are no cattle flowing to Indonesia. The Indonesian market demand is around 300 tonnes a day. It is not getting filled and that is creating demand in a market we cannot get entry to due to our own decision, but other countries can get entry to it.

One of the things that really hurts me as a Territorian when I move around these properties is when you get some of the people who have only just got access to their own properties—our First Australians, the Aboriginal people who own the properties. There are six in Queensland, 55 in the Northern Territory and 22 in the Kimberley. It was not on the back of Kidman that the industry was built. The industry was built on the back of Aboriginal stockmen. They knew the country. They knew where the water was. They did not need a five-star hotel. They needed a horse and a swag and not much else. They are the ones that built the industry and now they are actually getting something back. They have their own land and governments have encouraged the return of land. They have their land. They have herds. They are getting going. They are employed—and suddenly this. You can insure against an act of God, but clearly you cannot insure against an act of Gillard. Again, they have been completely and utterly crushed. There is no future.

No-one has made a decision that it is going to be five days out, 12 days out, 20 days out or a month out. There have to be business decisions about whether you keep people on, whether you lease another truck, whether you build yards or, in some cases, whether you can buy diesel to ensure that you can water the cattle. Imagine the fear of not being able to afford to keep your animals alive. This is going to be an absolute catastrophe in economic, social and animal welfare terms and this catastrophe was brought on this government by our own Prime Minister.

Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I listened intently to Senator Scullion's contribution acknowledging that Senator Scullion is a Territorian. He certainly knows his stuff, he knows his territory, he knows his constituents and he knows the problems they face. As an ex-long distance truck driver who plied my trade through the Kimberley and through the Northern Territory for quite a few years—some that I remember fondly; some I would like to forget—I am very mindful of the importance of the live cattle trade to our state, to Senator Scullion's territory and, to a lesser extent, to Queensland. This is a travesty; it is shocking. There is no doubt about that. I think we would have far greater resolutions in this place if we could hear the sensible arguments put forward by people like Senator Scullion and not some of the hysterics from other members of the opposition.

But let us talk a little about the impact. I want to talk too about the impact on our Aboriginal stockmen. I am very actively involved, as is Senator Scullion, with Kimberley Aboriginal Pastoralists Associa­tion, known as KAPA. They are led by a wonderful Australian, Doodie Lawford, out there at Bohemia Downs. Doodie and I speak regularly. We contact each other a lot and I know that there are conversations in your territory, Senator Scullion, with Doodie and his mob on the impact this is having on them. But we have to be very mindful: we have to get this right. I am not going to stand here and say that this can go on for ever and ever. It cannot. It needs to be fixed and it needs to be fixed quickly, but it needs to be fixed in such a way that the industry does not get stumped again by footage that none of us want to see.

On that footage, I have not met one Australian who condones that behaviour. I know for a fact that it would upset not only us in the city based populations but certainly our pastoralists. It was very distressing, but what also distresses me is what I found out today from a media report that I was not quite sure of. I received the report from Colin Bettles. If my memory serves me right, it was not from Colin. Colin who wrote it, but I think he is tied up with one of the farming papers.

Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Rural Press.

Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Okay. This is no dis­respect to Senator Coonan, but it actually says that Senator Coonan was forewarned of export footage. That is fine. That is not the problem. Here is the problem I have. If I can just quote from the report, it said that Senator Coonan:

… was given the shocking Indonesian abattoir footage by Animals Australia and the RSPCA in confidence, at least one month prior to the ABC Four Corners program airing on May 30.

It goes on to say that Senator Coonan did not see it but her staff did. But the bit that alarmed me—I am quoting Mr Bettles—is:

She—

I assume that is Senator Coonan—

said the animal rights campaigners allowed them to have the vision in an attempt to build Coalition support.

I am not trying to digress, but what I am very alarmed about is that I put a phone call in to Animals Australia at 3.22 pm this afternoon. I spoke to a very friendly young lady there. I was chasing Ms Lyn White, who is the lady who is the face of the animal cruelty campaign. Unfortunately I have not been able to confirm if that is true or not, but I think that says it all. Before I go any further, if that is the way that the RSPCA and Animals Australia conduct their business, that is just disgusting and disgraceful. I think I would have bipartisan support in this chamber. They think they are so smart and so clever that they will use the coalition to build support to bring an industry to its knees. I am not condemning the opposition; I make this very, very clear. How can we, as responsible Australians who have an affinity for anything that is not cruel to animals—as a nation who loves animals—support this? I do not even want these people in my room. If this is the way they do business, they are not welcome in my room. So I hope this message gets out loud and clear to the RSPCA and very loud and clear to Animals Australia: you are not welcome in my room.

Let us get back to the problem that we have in hand. A major problem that we are confronted with—certainly in the Top End of Australia—is, as Senator Scullion put it so brilliantly or so pointedly—

Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Eloquently.

Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Eloquently? Why do you have to use these big words? Okay, that is enough of the big ones. He done well! He did very good! He was quite right that we have Brahman cattle. Brahman cattle are the main cattle that are used for export. Brahman is not a breed of cattle that we have in our market. But my pastoralists in the Top End, particularly the Kimberley Aboriginal pastoralists that I deal with extensively, are faced with a massive problem. They have a product that is not wanted in the Australian domestic meat market. We have this misbelief that is being put out there—and certainly this is not political—that all of a sudden we can open up abattoirs all along the northern coast which we used to have, such as in Port Hedland, Broome, Derby, Wyndham and Kununurra. I for one would love nothing better than to see our abattoirs reopened and our meat slaughtered here in Australia. I would love nothing better than to think that there is actually a requirement for a boxed meat market to Indonesia. The truth—the harsh reality; the fact—is that there is not. So, while we are fighting all these side arguments and silly statements coming from all sorts of self-interest groups or whatever they are, it is not fair for those who do not know our meat market and our live trade export market. That is not an option for us. The only option we have is to get this $330 million industry back on track. We need to do it quickly. We need to do it the right way. Doing it the wrong way is not an option for us, because if this is the behaviour that we have from Animals Australia—if this is their modus operandi and that of the RSPCA—then goodness knows how long it will be before it all appears back on our TV screens again with images of animal cruelty. That would be a travesty for our northern producers, for those directly employed by the producers and for all those very important service industries that rely on this very important trade.

As Senator Scullion said, our truckies are a very, very important part. In fact, if it were not for the truckies, it would not matter how good our cattle are or how great our market is; the cattle would not get there. It does upset me, alarm me and hurt me to hear that 30 truck drivers two weeks ago were put off the job. They were employed, I believe, with Road Trains Australia. I know the trucks, because they used to be bigger than mine and would try and take their part of the road and mine—that was when we had single-lane bitumen. There is nothing worse. Where are these truck drivers going to go? What the heck are they going to do? It is not as though they are going to be sitting under a tree waiting for the whistle to be blown to signal that we are back on and everything is going to happen. It is not only the truck drivers, those people that have invested their life savings in purchasing those trucks and those crates. What about the tyre fitters? What about the auto-electricians? What about the mechanics? It goes on and on and on. If anyone wants to have an argument with me—I know no-one in this chamber does—about the costs of running a vehicle, bring it on. But they will not; I know that. There are a number of other industries that hang off our northern export live trade. It is a nonsense to think that tourism will carry us through and we can survive in that part of the world when we have a window of about five or six months of good weather. There are no other jobs for these people; there are no other opportunities.

It is very important to notice that we have implemented—I know we have copped a bit of flak—some assistance for those that are affected. I know that we will always have people saying we are not doing enough. I have heard the commentary saying: 'Stick it in your back pocket. We don't want handouts; we want our industry back.' Fine, but I remember when Ansett Airlines collapsed. I am an ex-Ansett employee, and I remember when 30,000 Australians were thrown out on the street overnight with absolutely no assistance. So if we can at least afford some assistance while we work our way through this and while the minister is doing his best—I believe the Prime Minister has the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Minister for Trade and everyone working on this to try and get this unfortunate situation corrected—then I think it is a bit disin­genuous to throw that back in our face and say that we do not care. We all care. I do not know, but I would be pretty close to the mark to say that I do not think the minister has been sleeping very well in the last few months with the pressure that is on him. With the greatest respect, I fully endorse and support his position, because the last thing we want, as I said, is more footage of animal cruelty.

We will have to have a very, very structured system. We need to have international standards up to OIE; that is not an argument. We need that. We need the supply chain. We need to know—for our own sake and for the sake of the producers and the cattle—where they have come from. We need to be able to track them through our National Livestock Identification System from the farm to where they end up in Indonesia. Do not forget that when the Indonesians take our Brahmans they put an impost on our growers and our producers that there be nothing over 350 kilograms. So they have them and fatten them up in Indonesia for a period that the good Dr Back would be able to tell me; I think it is about 80 to 100 days to get them up there. But we have heard stories of our cattle appearing in the slaughter yard some two years after they left Australian shores. That is not good enough. We also need an independent auditor on the ground. This is what we need. This is where I am going to do my darnedest to work with my minister to assist this fantastic industry and get it up and running. For goodness sake, let us get it done as quickly as we possibly can.

Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to give some historical perspective to the whole issue of the live cattle trade. It in fact goes back, Acting Deputy President Mark Bishop, to our own then colony of Western Australia. It was in 1838 that the vessel Black Swan, which happened to be under the command of my great-great-grandfather, Captain Edward Back, shipped the first live cattle out of the colony and, ironically, it was to Batavia. From the records of the voyage they travelled well and they arrived safely. So our family has been involved in this trade for some 175 years. What is interesting and important to know is that the demand for beef in Indonesia came about as a result of a chronic shortage of protein, especially for the lower socioeconomic sectors of Indonesian society. Up until 8 June this year, Australia had become a very proud and consistent supplier of that protein, through beef. We need to get that back on deck as quickly as we can, as has been agreed.

It might be of interest to the chamber to know some of the background. I acknowledge CSIRO for its establishment in Bogor, Java, of a microbiology laboratory in which they not only provided a pathology service but trained the first Indonesian technicians and scientists in this area. So it has its origins there. In fact, so impressed was the then Indonesian government with the contribution of Australia through CSIRO that they became interested in our trade. It was in 1990-91 that the first cattle left Darwin to go up to Indonesia to start to service the trade. You would be interested to know that in 2010—which is not many years from 1990—we shipped 874,900 cattle to Indonesia, with a value of about $684 million, and we have a herd size in the north of Australia of some 3.2 million cattle. That is the size and scale of what we are dealing with. It is important for people to understand that, in parallel with that trade developing, we had a scenario in which we brought Indonesian veterinarians and stockman down and educated them at the Katherine Pastoral College. This was critical to the transfer of Australian technology and knowledge and the building of relations.

Let me now lay to rest this allegation by others that the live cattle shipment in some way is cruel or abhorrent. The official figures from the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, which are circulated twice annually, indicate that 0.1 per cent—one beast in a thousand—die on the ships. More important for people to understand is that, far from it being a cruel trade, cattle actually maintain weight and put on weight on the journey to Indonesia and also to our other markets in the Middle East, Turkey and now even as far afield as Russia. That is how good we are—we are leaders internationally in the design of ships, the management of those vessels, the nutrition, the stockmanship et cetera. Australia leads the world in that. It is so disappointing to hear this nonsense spoken about apparently cruel conditions on ships. It just is not the case.

Meat and Livestock Australia have been much maligned, and it is not my role to defend them, but people must understand that they have contributed, along with the shippers, to the excellence of the shipboard transfer of cattle from this country. They can also take a leaf in the sense that the quality of feedlots now in Indonesia and other places is almost up to and in many cases is at international level. That, again, has been an Australian input. It should be acknowledged that Australia stands alone as the only country that invests heavily in personnel, transfer of technology and knowledge, and assistance to our end markets. Often all we hear about in this place is Europe. Let me tell you that once vessels leave the European shores there is no interest by European vendors, as there is by Australian vendors, and has been for many years, in all our markets.

I come to genetic improvement, and Senator Sterle quite correctly referred to Bos indicus cattle. It was two brothers, Mick and Ray Beebee, of Eukaronig Station in the Northern Territory, who brought the first Brahman bull across to the Territory in 1967 from Apis Creek Stud in Queensland and he was the foundation sire of the Brahman herd across the north of Australia. That is not many years ago, when you think of the genetic improvements which have occurred.

People need to understand just how essential this trade is to the Indonesians. You will hear it said that it is a load of nonsense that they need live cattle because they have got refrigeration and they do not need live cattle, they need the boxed product. Let me put it into perspective for you. The top 10 per cent of Indonesians certainly have refrigeration. They certainly use similar cuts to those we do and they buy out of restaurants and supermarkets. I refer to the other 90 per cent, those who must buy out of what are known as the wet or daily markets. We cannot replace those with animals slaughtered here in Australia. The circum­stances are that the need for protein there is dire. As I mentioned in this place yesterday, Ramadan, the highest consump­tion period of the year for the Islamic world, starts in only 24 days time and they are facing dire shortages.

We hear it said that we can process animals here. Let me tell you about the sort of consumption by many lower socio­economic Indonesians. They are around the abattoirs to collect bones, to collect intestines, to collect hooves and even to collect and split raw hide, the skin, so that they can boil that down and collect the gelatine. What we provide to that market is a very important source of protein and energy. So it is not possible for Australia to simply replace the live cattle market. If we do not get it going again, others certainly will.

The point has also been made, and unfortunately this has been run by meat industry union and other representatives, that it is the live cattle trade in Queensland that has actually decimated local processing. You can look at the statistics going back 10 or so years and you will see that it is always seasonal conditions; it is not the live cattle export trade that determines the numbers of animals slaughtered in Queensland abattoirs. In fact, the opposite is the case. Given the fact that no animals are now actually leaving Australian shores, there would be a far higher proportion of cattle going through Queensland abattoirs. Regrettably, only this week a large abattoir in Toowoomba closed, so it is further evidence that that is not the case. We hear it said, 'Why can't we rebuild abattoirs across the north of Australia to service this trade?' Mr Acting Deputy President, I can tell you that the north of Australia is littered with the carcasses of abattoirs that failed: Port Hedland, Broome, Derby, Windham, Darwin, Katherine—the list goes on. It simply is not economic to build and run an abattoir for a limited time of year.

We have a real animal welfare issue. We have an issue associated with the transport of cattle to the south. We have an issue associated with the animal welfare of animals remaining on leased properties. We have a circumstance where, because these animals are now not going to be shipped to Indonesia, the stocking rates on leased pastoral lands will be exceeded and therefore they will find themselves in default of their pastoral lease agreements. We are finding already a scenario in which the banks are having more difficulty in lending and advancing funds to pastoralists who now do not have very many livestock to offer as collateral. They have no equity in their pastoral lands because they are leased and, regrettably, if and when pastoralists have to leave those pastoral properties, again they have nothing to sell by way of livestock or property; they will merely have their own personal possessions.

Which way do we go in this? Yes, there has been an attempt at some level of compensation. I had a pastoralist only today from the Gascoigne call me to say that in their circumstance they do not meet the criteria, the reason being they cannot demonstrate under the conditions of the funding that they export their cattle directly to Indonesia. They in fact sell to agents who put shipments together, or would have put shipments together, and so they are now excluded from this level of support. We heard yesterday the owners of Moola Bulla station telling us it costs $120,000 a day to run the station, let alone to feed stock. They are indeed overstocked.

We have a circumstance in which the Northern Territory Cattlemen's Association is attempting to put together a cattle marketing pool. I believe it should be supported. All Australians must understand the severity of what is going on in the north. As I said the other day, livestock cattle are not a commodity like iron ore that can be left under the ground if it does not get a price. It is not like a production line which you can turn off. These animals are eating and feeding and their owners need support.

Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I stand today to speak on the matter of public importance and, in particular, to defend the comments that the Gillard government has decimated the live cattle trade to Indonesia. The Gillard government is trying to bring the live cattle trade to Indonesia up to standard. We are interested in the long-term sustainability of the industry. I draw attention to a speech that was made on Monday night in the House of Represent­atives by the member for Farrer, Ms Ley. As part of her speech, Ms Ley said:

We urge the government to do everything in its power to restart the live cattle export trade to facilities that can demonstrate humane killing methods.

I could not agree more. Once we have established supply chain assurance to be sure that cattle are processed in appropriate abattoirs with tracking and transparency and independent auditing, we will restart the trade. Ms Ley's further comments were particularly interesting. She went on to say:

Having been a farmer it broke my heart to see footage of the mistreatment of cattle in some Indonesian abattoirs. There is no excuse for this shameful behaviour. If any person, organisation, industry or government body knew of it and yet did nothing, they would stand condemned, no less by the opposition than by the supporters of this bill.

I find these comments interesting, especially when considering Colin Bettles's report in Stock & Landonlinelast Friday, which has already been referred to by my colleague Senator Sterle. The article is entitled Coonan forewarned of export footage. If that is accurate, I have a few problems. The article began:

NSW Liberal Senator, Helen Coonan, was given the shocking Indonesian abattoir footage by Animals Australia and the RSPCA in confidence, at least one month prior to the ABC Four Corners program airing on May 30.

It went on to say:

Senator Coonan said having the footage gave her time, before the issue “blew up”, to begin asking Agriculture Minister, Joe Ludwig, questions in Senate budget estimates …

If those reports are accurate, I wonder what Ms Ley thinks of her coalition colleague. Is doing nothing more than coming up with some estimates questions enough to escape her condemnation? Nobody wants to see this kind of cruelty that we saw on Four Corners repeated and I am sure that most cattle farmers would not want to see their cattle mistreated in such a cruel manner.

When some members of the opposition started expressing fabricated outrage they missed the point that allowing this treatment not only is devastating for the cattle but also in the long term will be devastating for the live export industry. The long-term sustainable future of the cattle industry depends on animal welfare assurances all the way down the supply chain. Unless we can guarantee that cattle will not be mistreated, we cannot ensure that sustainable future. That is why the government has taken the action it has. This is not just about ensuring the welfare of the animals we are supplying to the international beef market but about making sure we have an industry that continues to operate into the future.

I think the opposition live in glass houses. I say that because they had more than a decade in government to ensure a sustainable future for the industry yet failed to do anything about it. This is just another example of how the opposition are good at sound bites, they are good at three-word slogans and they know how to deliver bluster, hyperbole and silly political stunts, but what they cannot do is deliver a long-term reform. To illustrate the opposition's approach to this matter, just look at the fact that the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Abbott, was reported yesterday as saying there is no reason why the trade could not be resumed straight away. Mr Abbott not only is astonishingly ignorant of the steps the government is taking to ensure improved animal welfare but shows absolutely no interest in finding out about it. He could not even make the time to attend a government briefing that was offered to him on this issue. It just goes to show that Mr Abbott is not the least bit interested in the long-term viability of this industry. What Mr Abbott is interested in is the short term politics.

We understand the difficulties that are being experienced by the industry in the face of this suspension, and that is why we are working hard with the industry, with state governments and with our Indonesian counterparts, to resume the trade on a sustainable basis. We want to see this trade get back up and running. We do not want the suspension to last a day longer than it needs to.

But when we commence that trade we must have appropriate supply chain assurances in place that can guarantee the welfare of livestock, as I said, not only now but into the future. Senator Sterle also mentioned that there are three government ministers working hard to this end. We have got the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Rudd, the Minister for Trade, Dr Emerson, and of course, leading the government's response to animal welfare issues in Indonesian abattoirs is the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Senator Ludwig.

The Gillard government appreciates the importance of the live export industry—in Indonesia and beyond—to Australia's economy. There is no question about the importance of this industry to the livelihoods of graziers, producers and other stakeholders. During the suspension, we are providing assistance measures to provide short-term support to help the industry through this period. We welcome the establishment of a $5 million industry contingency fund to address animal welfare needs in the short term.

In addition to this, the Prime Minister has announced a $30 million Live Exports Assistance Package to provide short-term help to individual primary producers and related businesses affected by the temporary suspension. This package will build on previous assistance measures, and will provide immediate grants of up to $5,000 for eligible businesses with further grants of $20,000 also to be made available.

Senator Ludwig has also announced income recovery subsidy payments to employees and small business owners who earn the majority of their income from the live cattle trade to Indonesia. Individuals can register straight away with Centrelink for this assistance and receive payments up to the level of Newstart allowance from 7 June for up to 13 weeks. Anyone who has lost their employment can register for priority assistance through Job Services Australia. They will receive immediate and personalised employment services.

Of course the minister is not just working hard with industry and with the Indonesian government to establish supply chain assurances. He has appointed an independent reviewer, Mr Bill Farmer AO, to undertake a complete supply chain review of the live export trade for all markets. He has also met with key animal welfare advocates including the RSPCA and Animals Australia. The minister and the government are committed to reaching the best possible outcome for the industry and the welfare of livestock.

If the opposition doubts our claims that the actions this government have taken, including the temporary suspension, are necessary, then they should listen to the voices of the industry itself. On 8 June, the day after the suspension was announced, Luke Bowen of the Northern Territory Cattleman's Association was reported as saying:

This is something that needs to be fixed and producers more so than anyone are committed to see that happen.

Paul Holmes a Court, of Heytesbury Cattle Company, one of the biggest exporters of live cattle to Indonesia, on 10 June was reported as saying:

Currently our industry can't guarantee that our standards will be met all the way down the line …

The ban should only be lifted once we have an independent, auditable system which will allow that to happen.

And, on 22 June, Luke Bowen said on Sky:

Clearly we don't want to see any cattle going into this market unless those supply chains are secure, and there's no leakage out of those supply chains.

Producers are demanding that.

They don't want to see their animals going into a situation where they're going to be exposed to any of the things that we saw, certainly, or any sloppy practice.

So producers, most of all, are demanding that we have to have secure supply chains, and assured, independently accredited supply chains and that's where we are right now we're actually making sure that that happens.

So while members of the opposition wax lyrical about the consequences of this suspension for family farms and supporting businesses, they should consider the consequences for business of not getting this right. They should consider the conse­quences that industry have identified because industry know that they do not have a long-term sustainable future if supply chain assurances for animal welfare are not secured.

The Australian government will continue to work with the Indonesian government, the cattle industry and animal welfare organ­isations to develop a robust framework to ensure Australian cattle exports are handled appropriately and in line with community expectations throughout the supply chain. Once those assurances are in place, trade can resume. Until trade resumes, and this industry is back on a sustainable footing, I fully expect we will hear more slogans, more howls of derision, more attempts— (Time expired)

Judith Adams (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What an invitation! Thank you, Senator Bilyk. As a farmer for 38 years in the Great Southern area breeding both cattle and sheep for export I think that I do know what I am talking about and I feel very sorry for my colleagues who are in the Kimberley, the Northern Territory and Far North Queensland. We do have one senator from Western Australia on your side that does understand the industry but I do not think that anyone else does.

I want to get on to the World of Animal Welfare and the RSPCA. This afternoon I received an email from a colleague of mine who runs Three Rivers Station in the Murchison in Western Australia. He has pointed to the Teacher's guide to live export on the net being put forward by the RSPCA. He says:

I've had enough. I've recently been made aware of the Teacher's guide to live export for Australian schools prepared by the RSPCA developed by the World of Animal Welfare. It is delivered in a completely biased and grossly inaccurate manner in a deliberate ploy to sway the minds of impressionable young children with two guides prepared for target audiences of nine to 13 and 14 and over. Not only do I find it morally bankrupt to be involving children in this manner, it especially infuriates me that Australian taxes are being spent on such an initiative through the government funding of the RSPCA.

I could not agree more. It is headed up, 'Teacher's guide to live exports'. It says:

The following information is designed to assist you in delivering age appropriate information and providing students of all ages with ways in which they can help.

Guess what? We have a picture of sheep going up a race to go onto the ship. We do not have cattle. So obviously sheep are next to be banned from live export. It describes live exports:

Every year millions of Australian animals are exported live for slaughter. Cattle, sheep and goats are sent all over the globe, ending up in countries where animal welfare laws do not protect them. Many thousands of animals don’t even survive the sea voyage and those that do are subjected to handling, transport and slaughter in importing countries that is cruel and well below Australian standards.

The ships that carry these cattle, goats and sheep have a fatality rate on them that is less than if these animals were out in the paddock, so these sorts of statements being given to students gives completely the wrong message. And then guess what. There is a letter here about how to write to the Prime Minister:

Let the government know how you feel about live exports. Write your own letter to the Prime Minister to help end this cruel and unnecessary trade.

  …   …   …

Dear Ms Gillard,

After learning about the cruel and barbaric treatment of animals that are exported to Indonesia, I am asking you to call an immediate ban on all live exports. This trade simply will not be tolerated by the Australian public and we must act fast to stop any more animals from suffering.

It goes on to describe how the animals travel overseas, which is absolutely not right. This is the propaganda that is being given to our schoolchildren.

I go on to Mrs Christine Glenn from Ashburton Downs in the Pilbara. They are cattle producers. They have cattle waiting to go. They are really having problems. She said they were in drought last year and she is very worried that rural children and, more importantly, isolated children will be exposed to an even greater divide if basic schooling is not provided due to their geographic location. The problem here is the concern that it is fine to say Centrelink is supporting these families; unfortunately, any child going to boarding school is receiving no assistance whatsoever. As she says here, they were in drought last year and have no income this year. The income for this year was to come from their live cattle shipment, which now will not go ahead. Husband has to go off farm to earn an income, leaving her to run the station and teach the children through School of the Air. The boarding school children will not be able to stay there. So these are the runoffs from this particular issue that was decided overnight. I can assure you that, if any other trade were stopped overnight, it would be a circus. But it is fine to do this to the cattle people and later to sheep because there are not that many of them.

To quote: 'As an industry we've been disgusted with the complete lack of knowledge, awareness and understanding that has been displayed by the Prime Minister and Senator Ludwig and their complete indifference as a tsunami of economic destruction travels through Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland. The Prime Minister does not seem to be aware that their handling of this matter may be subject to a wide-scale legal action, as people will be forced to seek damages. Neither the Prime Minister or Senator Ludwig met with anyone in Indonesia or Australia to determine the consequences of their decision three or four weeks ago. Hundreds of jobs have been lost that may not be recovered, as many pastoralists will go to the wall on the basis of this suspension.' She continues: 'Our Prime Minister's decision has been at the cost of a whole generation's education. Our children's education has been denied, as we will not be able to cover the $15,000 to $30,000 required to send each child away to boarding school after the rebate. This is not a choice.'

That is what is happening on that issue. She also goes on to say: 'WA currently has a severe shortage of hay. There is not the feed on the ground due to two years drought and a 4,000 kilometre average to our closest slaughter point.' As Senator Back has said, these cattle are not the cattle that will go south, because they have been bred specifically to cover the Indonesian market. It has taken a long time to get that breed in.

Last Friday Senator Back and I attended a forum run by the Pastoralists and Graziers Association of Western Australia in Katanning. As President Rob Gillam says:

Livestock producers throughout Western Australia are now demanding that their livelihoods be returned to them.

  …   …   …

WA is the largest livestock export state in Australia, with over 350,000 cattle and 2.5 million sheep exported annually, yet the Minister cannot even be bothered to come over and meet with the pastoralists whose livelihoods have been affected by his actions.

Such losses are unacceptable in any industry and the Prime Minister has no choice but to remove her Minister from his portfolio and replace him with someone who will regain the confidence of Western Australian livestock producers.

I would also like to inform the Senate that a website has been set up by four women in Western Australia called Save Australian Farming. It is headed up by Jane Marwick, and the website is www.saveaustralianfarming.org. That will be up and running on Friday, and you can register on the domain now. I think it is very important that we get support for this to continue the export trade. As far as the animal husbandry goes, that is being well and truly looked at, and for the government to say that they could not have continued the trade, with three abattoirs with the closed loop circuit that they could have kept going they could at least have kept Indonesia on side. But, unfortunately, the diplomatic issues that are going to arise from this are very sad and very serious. A number of contracts ended on 30 June, and we may not have any contracts now until October—if we can get this mess fixed up.

One last thing: Kirsty from Nita Downs Station thought that the cattle that were being held in the yards on the station would be eligible for the cattle disease contingency fund. No. It is just cattle held in registered pre-embarkation premises designed for live export but unable to be exported due to the suspension of cattle exports to Indonesia. Those are the criteria. Therefore, those cattle that are being held on stations in yards and being fed will probably all end up over the limit of 350 kilos, because once they are being hand fed they put on weight. As you can see from TV footage, these cattle are not agitated; they are quite content to be eating their high-protein feed.

So these people are in a terrible situation. The mental health issues are very serious. (Time expired)

Trish Crossin (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise this afternoon to provide a contribution on this matter of public importance on live animal exports. I have to say from the outset that, like Senator Scullion, I have a strong commitment to representing our live cattle trade in the Northern Territory. No-one should be under any doubt whatsoever that we are working as diligently, as quickly and as hard as we possibly can to get this issue resolved.

I just want to go back to the beginning, from where this emanated. I am glad Senator Adams raised some of the issues the RSPCA has been highlighting. In the Northern Territory now I find that my constituents are caught up in this national debate about whether we should have live cattle exports at all. I believe we absolutely should. In the Northern Territory we have a massive industry for breeding cattle that has evolved over time and is designed specifically for exportation. We cannot simply come to a position where we say there will be no live cattle exports ever again in this country unless we turn away from the concerns of people I represent in the Northern Territory.

I am a strong defender of this industry, and I am certainly very strong in wanting to see this resolved very, very quickly. I get the same sorts of emails that other senators in this place are getting, particularly Senator Adams. I am not prepared to name those cattle stations or those people in this chamber—I want to respect their privacy—but I am getting those emails. These people are saying two things to me. The first thing they are saying is, 'We care for the cattle we have bred and we were shocked and horrified when we saw the footage on Four Corners.' The second thing they are saying is: 'We do not want that to occur. We do not want to put our cattle on a boat that will end up in a country where they are not slaughtered humanely, and we want that fixed.'

Everyone is with the program on wanting to ensure that when these cattle turn up at a slaughterhouse it is done as humanely and as appropriately as possible. But when people email me and talk to me about this issue they have very real concerns about what Meat and Livestock Australia have been doing. On the very last sitting day for the 12 senators who recently left from this place there was an adjournment debate—very late on that Thursday night. I listened attentively to the last speech Kerry O'Brien gave in this place. I urge senators to listen to what Senator O'Brien said. He had concerns about what Meat and Livestock Australia has been doing with the levy it has been collecting from these cattlemen and women and from these stations.

At this point in time, no-one is really turning their attention to what the industry bodies were doing during the lead-up to this problem and what they are doing now. As I understand it, the Northern Territory Cattle­mens Association is not represented by Meat and Livestock Australia. There is a real disconnect between what is happening in that industry body and what is going on with the cattle association in the Northern Territory.

I know we have met with these people to try to resolve this as quickly as possible. The Prime Minister has been in the Northern Territory twice in a month to meet with them. She came last Wednesday, and I was present at that meeting. Also, in a cooperative effort, Senator Scullion, Minister Warren Snowdon and I, at my initiative, had the whole of the Northern Territory Cattlemens Association here in this building for two days two weeks ago. They had access to a range of ministers, spokespeople from the opposition and members of the broader parliamentary community here, trying to get people to understand why they are so reliant on a live cattle trade. That is where a lot of their focus has been—trying to dispel this humbug about live cattle exports. They have had to fight this rearguard reaction from people who do not want live exports to occur, and their attention has been diverted away from maintaining the trade they have. If we set all that to one side, if the cattle people did not have to have their energies diverted to defending what they do so well, then perhaps we might have all been able to get with this program much faster. People are working extremely diligently to get this resolved as quickly as possible.

There is no question about the value of the live animal export industry to Indonesia or beyond. It is vital to our economy, worth over $300 million. It is so vital, in fact, that I notice that the Northern Territory Chief Minister, Paul Henderson, and Minister Kon Vatskalis have been in Indonesia meeting ministers and officials from that government and having a look at what is happening. Be under no illusion here. Everyone is pulling out stops as quickly as possible to get this resolved. We want to ensure not only that the welfare of the animals is taken care of but that we also have a closed loop. We want to be absolutely satisfied that from the minute the cattle get onto that boat until they arrive in Indonesia, and from the paddock to the point of slaughter, there is a supply chain that is regulated and supervised. Can that happen overnight? No, it cannot. Can we ensure that it happens?

We are seeking to work closely and cooperatively with Indonesian officials to get this moving as quickly as possible but this involves working inside, and with, another country. That country, as I understand it, also wants to get this resolved. There have been reports, for example in today's media in the Northern Territory, from Minister Kon Vatskalis that this is now having effects on families in Indonesia.

In this situation we have to be convinced and reassured that once we get these cattle moving the assurances—the checks and balances—are in place so that the trade can resume. I have no doubt, after the meetings that I have been involved in for the past month, that cattlemen, the Prime Minister and Minister Ludwig, departmental officials and the cattlemens association are diligently working around the clock with the Indonesian government. The cattle industry and welfare organisations are developing a robust framework to ensure that Australian cattle exports are handled appropriately.

I want to draw people's attention not only to the independent review that we have set up and the fact that payments and assistance have been provided to people but to what I want to see at the end of the day: this problem fixed forever. Once these cattle start moving I do not want us to be back in here in three, five or 10 years time. This is an opportunity to try to support the cattle industry and the people I represent in the Northern Territory as best, as efficiently and as compassionately as we possibly can.

If we really get this right—so that in the supply chain loop we do not have just five or six abattoirs regulated but 20, 30 or 50 abattoirs regulated—this will provide an opportunity for the cattle industry to grow. It will be an opportunity for the cattle industry to be able to say: 'That was a pretty rough patch back then but we now have this industry sorted forever. We now have an agreement with the Indonesian government, who are as committed to resolving this as we are, and this will be fixed up for all time.'

As the Prime Minister said last week in Darwin:

... I wouldn't let an extra day go by before we resume this trade, as soon as we had the animal welfare measures addressed.

As soon as this problem is sorted and as soon as we have an agreement with the Indonesian government—I know they will be diligently working as hard as we are to resolve this—we will get this trade moving again. Not one day will be wasted. Not one extra day will go by. The minute we can get these cattle moving off these shores in a live export trade we will do this.

At this point in time I want this nation to stop diverting attention to a discussion about whether there should be live exports. There are live exports and they are going to continue under our watch. (Time expired)

The Acting Deputy President:

Order! The time for this discussion has expired.