Andrew Wilkie (Denison, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The live animal export industry is systemically cruel, is not in Australia's economic self-interest and lacks popular support. That a succession of coalition and Labor governments have allowed the trade to continue beggars belief, as does the Minister for Agriculture's bizarre joy every time the trade is expanded. And here we are again, this time with the revelation of Australian cattle being bludgeoned to death with hammers in Vietnam. My God, how many more exposes do we need before a government, any government, finally acts decisively to outlaw this vile trade?

Indeed, complaints and stories have circulated for years about what is going on in Vietnam with Australian livestock. In other words, it is not as if this latest episode is an isolated revelation, because the evidence is clear that Vietnam, which is the second largest market for Australian cattle after Indonesia, is an especially notorious destination, where Australian livestock can likely expect the most grizzly end. Yes, the Department of Agriculture is apparently looking into this latest incident, but, frankly, I have no confidence anything much will come of it, because this government's track record is to take little or no action against companies found to be guilty of misconduct in the live export trade. That in itself helps to explain the ongoing commercial misconduct—the fact that the companies associated with the cruelty know they have political top cover from a minister who does not give a toss about animal welfare and from a regulatory bureaucracy that is either incompetent or politicised.

Ironically, the situation has got to the point where even some in the live animal export industry are starting to worry that the animal abuse is so widespread, and that the stories about it are so abundant, that sooner or later something has got to give, and that would jeopardise the entire industry. But what is the real value in some people in the live trade speaking up, albeit probably entirely out of self-interest, when the government and regulator will not act? This certainly seems to be the case if the recent report in The West Australian is accurate, which recounts all sorts of allegations involving South East Asian Livestock Services and Wellard, and everything from animal cruelty to commercial espionage to the arrest of some of the players by Vietnamese police. All of which is most alarming, perhaps trumped only by the silence from the government and the agriculture department, which suggests more disinterest and inaction. Good grief, Deputy Speaker! And, all the time, the animals suffer.