Janelle Saffin (Page, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the Horse Disease Response Levy Bill 2008 and associated bills. I have heard a lot of terms bandied around by those on the other side and a lot of humbug in this debate. I have heard that there needs to be sensible action. I have heard that people were slugged. The reality is that a lot of people in the horse industry were slugged because they were not part of the scheme, because they were not in the framework. I had to also listen to members on the other side talk about how they were ready to do something, but they are not ready now. They were not ready 12 years ago; they were not ready 10 years ago. They are not ready today; they will not be ready tomorrow. They want to send the legislation over to the Senate for another review. It does not need to be reviewed; it needs to be passed so that the horse industry has certainty in this area. We all know what happened when equine influenza broke out.

Debate interrupted.

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