Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Again, this is classic of the Liberals and Nationals, claiming that they're the only political parties that represent regional electorates. I represent the electorate of Bendigo, which has significant livestock. Like the member for Blair's electorate, we have meat processing. Hardwicks, in my electorate, processes sheep and cattle. I also have significant cattle farms, piggeries and sheep farms in my electorate. The reason why I flag that is that this isn't a new issue. It's newish to Indonesia, but my farmers were first raising concern about this at least five or six years ago, and any member of parliament from a regional area who does their job would have been hearing the same concerns.

Foot-and-mouth disease was still a problem in Europe, and was Australia ready? The reason that is relevant is that it goes to the true character of those opposite and what they actually did when they were in government to prepare Australia, to prepare our borders, to prepare ourselves if there was a significant outbreak in one of the countries in our region. The fact that they can stand in here and move a motion like this, criticising us for picking up where they left a massive mess, cleaning it up and getting an action plan rolling within days of being elected is just extraordinary. It screams politics. That's all they are. If they were genuine representatives and if they were genuine about their legacy, they would have come in here saying, 'We got ourselves ready in government; now it's the new government and they're rolling out the job.' The fact is that we were left short, and it was a Labor government—and thankfully a Labor government was elected in May—that could be here to roll out the plan that we are now seeing.

Foot-and-mouth disease devastates livestock industries and it devastates throughout the supply chain, whether it be the farmers or the food processors or the retailers. If this disease were to hit Australian shores, it would be a problem. But, again, demonstrating the rhetoric of those opposite, they went straight to closing the border with Bali and banning tourists travelling there and banning people from Bali entering Australia. They were not listening to the science and not listening to the facts. The fact is that the majority of the disease that has entered Australia has entered through animal products from overseas being brought into Australia. That's the reality. It's not coming in on people's feet; it's coming in through the food. And there we have to look at what the previous government did in terms of our borders. They cut funding to the testing of products coming into this country. That's what they did. They focused so much elsewhere that they actually stopped food and other products from being imported. They actually reduced Border Force's budget in this critical area. They prioritised and put it somewhere else. So our government inherited a legacy problem. But, rather than scream about it, like those opposite are, we got straight into doing the job.

The response that we have seen from the minister for agriculture and from the Labor government has been phenomenal. They've introduced the toughest measures we've seen when it comes to this disease and other diseases of this nature. The minister should be congratulated for the way in which we have worked with industry, with farmers and with Indonesia, where the real threat is right now. It didn't happen under the previous government; it is happening under this government. And the relief that farmers in my electorate have—this is their life; this is their industry. They're not the big graziers that we see in Queensland, but they are significant. They produce a lot of Angus cattle. They produce a lot of merino wool. But, again, whether this disease is getting into our sheep for meat production or for wool production, if sheep were to be infected with this disease, they'd have to be destroyed.

I really want to see the opposition become more bipartisan on this issue and listen to their constituencies and listen to the stakeholders who are working with the government in getting on top of this disease. This is not the time to be playing politics. This is the time for us to work together. Yes, the mats are being rolled out. Yes, the vaccinations are being rolled out. Yes, we're getting on with the job. It's not a time for politics. It's actually a time to work together as a country to make sure that this disease does not enter Australia, and, where it does, that we're getting onto it quickly.

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