Second Reading – Export Control Amendment (Ending Live Sheep Exports by Sea) Bill 2024

Mr PITT: Who’d have thought we’d be back here debating this again after the disaster of the live cattle export cancellation by the previous Labor government? But, now, here we find ourselves, where this Labor government is effectively cancelling the live sheep export from Western Australia.

I did some research and I’ve looked around. The issue has been around for some time. I looked at the Saturday edition of the West Australian from 7 May 2022. The headline was: ‘An Albo backflip or more fake ewes?’—spelt e-w-e-s—’Senior ALP MPs forced to clarify live sheep ban’. As I’m sure you’re aware—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Claydon ): Member for Hinkler, even if you are going to use props, which is not okay, when you’re referring to members of parliament, you must use their correct titles. Quoting doesn’t get you out of that.

Mr PITT: I read it straight off the page, Madam Deputy Speaker.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Quoting is not a good excuse to offend the standing orders.

Mr PITT: The now prime minister, Mr Albanese: a backflip or more fake ewes? Whilst that’s a snappy headline, it’s terrifying, terrible and disastrous for the people involved in the trade. It is an absolute debacle for them because they’re at risk. They have mortgages. They have bills to pay. They rely on this for an income.

As I said, I went to inform myself. I don’t have a lot of sheep locally—in fact, I doubt there are more than a handful. But I had over 500 contacts the last time this issue reared its head in previous parliaments. I attended a live export loading with the member for Petrie and others back in 2019. I think the member for Forrest was there as well. Mia Davies, a current MLA in the WA state parliament, posted on Facebook at the time:

We were invited by Emanuel’s, WA Livestock Exporters Association and Sheep Producers Australia to join MPs from across Party lines to view the loading of a live export ship at Fremantle Port. Dr Holly Ludeman led the tour, and representatives from the exporter, ship and industry were on-hand to answer any questions—

which they did—

… in relation to the supply chain from our paddocks to the final destination for these sheep in Kuwait.

The Nationals WA condemn any behaviour that incentivises putting livestock’s welfare at risk for financial gain—the allegations that emerged yesterday must be investigated.

The overwhelming majority of Australians have no direct involvement in our food supply chain; they simply don’t. They don’t really understand what it takes to produce the protein that they rely on, how it is delivered to them or what arrangements must be made. But, coming from a regional area and knowing people like the member for Forrest, they love their animals. They don’t want to see losses, because losses cost money. No-one wants to lose any of their product, whether it’s part of a dairy herd, a single sheep or a single lamb. But every single day in this country there are stock losses, whether it’s from an accidental death, a fall, wild dogs, a snake bite, illness, sickness, getting caught in a fence or drowning. This is the reality of agricultural life. For the producers who are putting protein on our table, unfortunately this is a regular event. But the idea that they would stock a ship knowing there’d be enormous losses and afterwards a direct impact on potential profits is just false. It is wrong. They won’t do that; it’s not in their interest. It’s not in the interest of them, their industry, our nation’s reputation, the supplier and the buyer. All the people who are in that supply chain are now going to be effectively unemployed because this Labor government has made the decision that they just don’t like the industry. That’s the reality. There’s nothing else about it; they just don’t like it. Sure, they’ve made some other commitments as a government, but when you have even WA Premier Roger Cook reported as stating the federal government’s $107 million transition support package for the industry is just not good enough—a Labor Premier—surely you would listen to the Premier in the state where the actual impact is on the industry.

If we look at the supply chain—agents, saleyards, shearers, transporters, feed growers, millers, live exporters, Australian government regulators, vets, all the technical science and support, the people involved at the other end—every single one of them rely on this industry to pay their bills, to pay their mortgage, to feed their family, to clothe their children, to educate them, to give them an opportunity. They’ve taken enormous risks because they’ve invested in an industry they support, an industry which is actually legitimate, has been around for a long time and fills a need in the world’s demand for protein in countries where there’s basically no refrigeration. How else do you do this? As many before me have pointed out, if they are not supplying sheep from our country with our standards, they’ll come from somewhere else. Animal welfare is not on the list of things those other nations are interested in; it is simply volume and value. Every single individual involved in this trade in Western Australia will have an enormous detrimental impact from this decision by the federal government. Imagine showing up in two months and you can’t pay your mortgage, because the federal government put you out of business with a decision which is simply about what they believe. It’s not about science, the facts or the impacts. It’s not about the fact that they’re feeding the world and are part of a very important supply chain out of WA; it’s just that the federal government don’t like them.

There are lots of other things around. We have seen accusations and allegations from the Animal Justice Party in what I’d have to say is just a disgraceful chapter if it’s true. According to the Animal Justice Party, 11 May 2024:

We are proud that the AJP could deliver the knockout blow by demanding the end of live sheep export as a requirement for our preferences at the Dunkley By-election in March. Ongoing conversations behind-the-scenes between AJP and Labor leadership has helped to finetune government policy.

What an incredible statement. Every single one of those Australians who are invested in this trade have been sold down the river, if this is true, by allegations that this is about a preference deal. If this is the case, my question is: what’s next? Who’s next? Which industry is on the chopping block because a deal needs to be done? If we look at the opportunities, I’m sure Animal Justice has had plenty to say about some of these sorts of things. I’m quite confident they don’t support jumps racing; in fact I’m very confident. Is that the next deal necessary in a by-election or a federal election—the jumps? Are they out there; are they done? What about the dogs, the greyhounds?

Mrs Marino: Horseracing.

Mr PITT: There are lots of people involved in the horse industry, as the member for Forrest says. What about the Melbourne Cup? We’ve seen lots of protest from Animal Justice and others about the Melbourne Cup, something that puts literally half a billion dollars into the Victorian economy. Are they next? Is that the next opportunity? Are they the ones that will be sold down the river to do a deal like this? I can understand the outright anger—it is not frustration anymore—from the producers in Western Australia. They are furious, they are white-hot angry and they should be, because they have been absolutely sold out. Can you imagine any individual in this place losing the ability to pay their mortgage, educate their children and make their own way in this world, because someone, somewhere, decided they didn’t like their industry for some particular reason and, potentially, a deal was done and they were out of business? We make tough decisions here all the time, but this one is absolutely unnecessary. We have the highest welfare standards in the world, bar none. Why shouldn’t this industry be allowed to continue what they’ve been doing? Where there were changes necessary, they have made them. They have invested. They have taken risks. They have borrowed. They have employed. They have paid taxes. They are entitled to exist.

What is the next industry that’s going to get rolled? We have members in here who are absolutely against the gambling sector. They don’t like pokies, for example. Is that next, if a deal is necessary to form government—maybe if there’s a minority government? Is that next? Is that industry going to be wiped out as well? The idea that any federal government, a government of Australia, would shut down an industry like this simply because they just don’t like it, I find just appalling. So I 100 per cent support the ‘Keep the Sheep’ program that they’re running in Western Australia. Their anger will continue to grow. The closer they get to losing their businesses, the worse this will be.

And imagine the damage it does to our international reputation—the reputation of this country as a reliable supplier—one that held us in incredibly good stead throughout the COVID period, whether in resources, or in agriculture or anything else that we exported. People come to this country because they know Australia can be relied on: when they put in an order, we deliver. And in the midst of one of the most difficult periods of time, this country continued to delivered. We kept the lights on in Japan, South Korea and everywhere else. We kept food flowing to the world, including live sheep, because we can be relied on. Yet now we have statements from the Japanese ambassador, for example, that there is sovereign risk in this nation, and these types of decisions back up exactly what the ambassador from Japan has said. We rely on trade; trade is an enormous part of this nation, its economy and its ability to employ people in this country, and we must continue to protect it—not destroy it. So I want to congratulate the members for O’Connor, Durack and Forrest, the WA Nats, the WA Libs and the WA Labor Party, who also oppose this and who also say it’s not right because it directly impacts the people in their state and that it is absolutely unnecessary.

I ask again of the House: what is next? Which industry is it that will upset Labor’s sensibilities? Which industry is it that will be sent down the river because they need a deal on preferences to win? We all know statements from the Hon. Graham Richardson, the former member of the other place, in Whatever It Takes—I get all that. But ‘whatever it takes’ shouldn’t be at the cost of an Australian’s livelihood in an industry which has been in place for a long time and which fills a need and a demand. It’s an industry that’s necessary because of the circumstances. We don’t live in a world that is made up of fluffy clouds and unicorns running around providing layers of gold for every individual. In the world of reality, particularly if you’re an agricultural producer, you get stock losses. You do! It doesn’t matter if you’re in livestock or you’re in horticulture, you get damage and you get loss. It is part of the risk of farming. But, in this industry, they’ve done everything they possibly could to reduce that risk. Will there be incidents? Of course there will be incidents. We’re talking about hundreds of thousands of heads of sheep. It doesn’t take very much for one of them to fall over, to break a leg. It happens. But we have to accept that if we want to provide protein to the world, particularly in places where there is no refrigeration and no refrigerated logistical transport then live export is what there is.

I’ll come back to where I started: is the cattle trade next? If you’re in the Northern Territory, if you’re in the Far North or if you’re in Queensland and you rely on what is a very import of trade for that area of the country, are you at risk? I think the answer is: absolutely you are under this federal government, because they’ve done it before. Overnight, they closed down live cattle.

We’ve all read the media reports on the costs—which are significant and yet to be paid, if I recall correctly—and the impact they had on Australia’s reputation. These are live animals. Regardless of what the federal parliament decides, they continue to grow. They continue to move outside the bracket of where it works for them to be exported. They continue to produce wool. They continue to do a whole pile of things. Ultimately, the result of this policy in Western Australia will be hundreds of thousands of head of sheep that have to be destroyed because they are valueless and cannot be fed. They will end up in a hole in the ground, and there will be more heartbroken farmers, because they established an industry, they took the risks that were necessary, and they did everything right apart from causing an upset to this federal Labor government.

I say again to the ministers involved: you don’t need to do this. Listen to all the individuals that keep the sheep. Listen to your WA counterparts. Listen to the ones who are directly impacted, because it is they who pay the price. It is not individuals like the member for Macnamara, and I heard his speech just before. If you live in an inner-city seat, you don’t see most of this. Some of them will come from regional areas, but they don’t live in the world of reality. The reality is that these things take effort and risk. You take the risk, you want the reward. Every single person involved in this supply chain deserves the respect of every individual in this country, because they are providing food for this nation and food for other nations. They are ensuring that we do not have further sovereign risk and further reduction in agricultural production in this nation. I oppose this bill absolutely and wholeheartedly.