ADDRESS TO PARLIAMENT - BILLS - Export Control Amendment (Ending Live Sheep Exports by Sea) Bill 2024 - Second Reading
I am just off the phone from the state member for Roe, Peter Rundle, who describes what the Labor federal government has done to his community as 'quite traumatic'. 'They have taken it to heart,' he told me. He represents the people with the most sheep in the Western Australia parliament, just as the member for O'Connor, Rick Wilson, represents people who have so many sheep. It is their livelihoods, it is a generational thing and it is so upsetting for those farmers. But beyond the farm gate, it is so upsetting for those communities which are, in many instances, largely underpinned by the live export trade.
I received a letter on 21 May from Councillor Philip Blight, Shire President of Wagin, who, in his letter, said:
The recent decision by the Federal Minister to ban the live export of sheep means that our community which has farmed here since the 1870s is under threat. The ban puts the livelihoods of not only our farmers but the entire community at risk. Across regional Western Australia this decision impacts thousands of Australians.
Wagin has a population of 1,800. It's these small communities which are the heartbeat of our nation and these small communities should be respected. They have been greatly disrespected by this decision.
And then we hear Labor's falsehoods about how many sheep and the value of the export trade. In 2023—and these are the facts—the total value of livestock exported from Australia was more than $1 billion. Contrary to Labor's false claims, live sheep exports are growing. According to data collected by the agriculture department, live sheep exports increased from nearly 380,000 in 2022 to more than 654,000 in 2023. And, really disturbingly—worryingly—this isn't just about economics. Sadly, in yet another dark chapter in this sorry tale, we've also learned that the Albanese government sold out the WA sheep industry for what could only be described as a 'dirty' preference deal with, of all organisations, the Animal Justice Party in the lead-up to the Dunkley by-election in March.
When Minister Watt made his announcement on the shutdown deadline on 11 May, the Animal Justice Party had this to say:
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.
That's the quote: fine-tune government policy. This is a dirty deed, but it hasn't been done cheap—with all apologies to AC/DC and its 1976 album. This is a dirty deed but it has not been done dirt cheap, because it has come at the expense of our fine WA sheep producers.
Labor has put cheap political expediency and the ideology of extreme activists over and above the livelihoods and the emotional wellbeing of our farmers and our sheep producers. And they admit that it's over and above the emotional wellbeing of our farmers, because the $107 million package for the phase-out includes emotional and rural financial counselling for those farmers. So Labor admits that this is going to be a strain on the mental wellbeing, the mental health, of our farmers, and yet they're going ahead with it. And they're going ahead with it because the AJP indicated that it needed to be so, to get their preferences at that by-election. We all know that the AJP's next target is all live animal export industries, and that is going to have such an effect on so many industries—not just sheep but cattle as well. Indeed, next they'll ban shuttle thoroughbred stallions from operating in the horseracing industry—banned from going from Australia to other places for their stud services. Mark my words, that will happen. And then they'll come after the horseracing industry per se.
The Albanese Labor government's policy to end live sheep exports has caused significant tension with the WA state Labor government. They're publicly opposed, and so they should be. Premier Roger Cook has labelled the policy as unnecessary. The relationship between the Western Australian agriculture minister, Jackie Jarvis, and Minister Watt also very much appears to be strained. Minister Jarvis stated that the decisions over live exports had not been in the interests of WA—and that's correct—and said:
… it is difficult to see how we can work collaboratively.
In government, we will absolutely restore this important industry. Unlike those opposite, we will always support our farmers and always back our farmers. And we very much back our WA sheep farmers. It's a disgrace!