Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

I don't think we have those anymore. But we had a PC report. It was a very good report. It identified enormous issues that could be tackled by this government. But it said a couple of things the government didn't like, like recommending independent oversight and regulation of live exports, that the sugar code was a pretty dumb idea—I think most of us agree with that—and there were a few more as well. So, where is the PC report? It's gathering dust somewhere. You can be sure of one thing: if we win government—and we don't take anything for granted there, far from it—we'll be dusting off the PC's excellent report and revisiting some of those issues that this government has chosen to ignore.

We support the live cattle industry, but we want to help it build and maintain its social licence, and we believe independent oversight is very, very critical. I ask members to think about, God forbid, an event in the cattle trade. How would we explain to people that we were serious about overseeing these things? An independent cop on the beat, the inspector-general, will allow us to do that, and I believe that person can do that job very effectively.

As for the live sheep trade, we acknowledge how important it is to some people. But, again, we want to work with them. It's unsustainable. Live sheep exports are on the decline. Our overseas markets are looking for something better. So the demographic is changing and the market is changing; there's an inevitability about this, in any case. Let's be honest with the sheepmeat producers: let's tell them where we want to take them and let's take them to a better place.

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