Melissa Parke (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is no accident that the same man who worked tirelessly for two decades to end human slavery in the UK, Lord Wilberforce, also founded the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. If the measure of a government is how it treats the most vulnerable members of the community it governs then this government is failing badly not only with regard to the poorest and most disadvantaged people in our community but also in terms of its treatment of our animals. The revelation that Australian cattle are being killed with sledgehammers in Vietnam, our second largest live cattle export destination, is further evidence that this appalling trade should be suspended and our boxed meat trade expanded.

The revelations of cruelty are not an accident or one-off; slaughtering via sledgehammer is the traditional method of slaughter in Vietnam. The Australian export industry knows this. The Department of Agriculture knows this. The minister knows this. Indeed, evidence of these brutal practices in Vietnam was first brought to the attention of the department two years ago and eight times since; however, rather than the government taking immediate investigative action two years ago and being very cautious with subsequent exports to Vietnam, live cattle exports to Vietnam have tripled in the past two years and exports are now being planned to Laos and Cambodia, countries which also practice slaughter by sledgehammer.

It seems that there is no fate too cruel for Australian animals that would cause this government to pause in its exuberant promotion and expansion of this industry. Once again it is the animal welfare sector that is alone in bringing to light the brutality and mistreatment that live export inevitably involves.