Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Keep the sheep! The petition now has over 60,000 signatures. This government and this minister thought it was worthy to put into the explanatory memorandum the fact that 42,000 had signed a petition opposing the ban on our live export industry in Western Australia, so I'd like to hear what the minister has to say about the more than 60,000 who have supported the Western Australian sheep industry and our live exports and who say: keep the sheep. We had Prime Minister Albanese on Western Australian radio last week mocking the name of this grassroots organisation in WA. Why is it called Keep the Sheep? It's because it's about keeping the sheep industry in WA. It's about keeping the WA truckies on the road, keeping the WA shearers on the tools, keeping the vets in the communities and keeping Western Australian communities alive.

I want to quote from the Western Australian Shearing Industry Association head's submission to the House of Representatives inquiry:

I fear for our local communities. I'm a shearing contractor in a small town of 500 people. I employ 30 staff. I provide housing and meals, so I also employ a cook. I have a payroll of over $2 million … I spend over $100,000 a year in my local IGA. I spend $50,000 on fuel to run my buses and cars ... 30 staff spend their money in Lake Grace. They live in the town, with some buying houses … They volunteer and contribute to the community. I'm the largest employer in Lake Grace …

This is what Labor's ban is going to do to Western Australian communities. It's going to rip the guts out of them, and the best this Prime Minister can do is make a joke about the name. I say: keep the sheep!