Mary Fisher (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

In rising to take note of answers given during question time today, I say that I am offended by the implication that seems to be being made by those senators who support the suspension of Australia's live cattle trade to Indonesia that those senators who disagree with the blanket suspension of the live cattle trade to Indonesia somehow do so on the basis that we are prepared to turn a blind eye to the horrific treatment to which we saw cattle being subjected in the Four Corners program. I find that implication offensive. I also find it offensive that this government seems to think it fit to impose upon the Australian community a policy—that is, the blanket suspension of the live cattle trade to Indonesia—which is all pain and no gain. There is no gain in the blanket suspension of the live cattle trade to Indonesia imposed by this government—there is no gain for the welfare of cattle, since cattle know no borders, and there is no gain for the welfare of cattle or, indeed, for the welfare of animals worldwide. But there is plenty of pain. There is pain for Australian beef cattle producers in the north, in the south and in the west. There is pain for the Australian community, especially small Australian communities. There is flow-on pain to the Australian economy. There is pain for those in poverty in Indonesia, who will have to pay more and so find it harder if they want to access protein through meat. There is pain for Australia's diplomatic relationship with Indonesia—it will potentially take decades to resurrect our trade relationship with Indonesia. There is potential pain for biosecurity and health and safety in Indonesia, as Indonesians without access to a reliable supply of electricity, and who are therefore without reliable refrigeration, are forced to source other, less safe markets for access to protein and their 'wet' meat. There is plenty of pain for Indonesian cattle, the 70 per cent of cattle being slaughtered daily, weekly, monthly in Indonesian abattoirs with techniques of the sort that we saw in the Four Corners footage. If you take away the 20 per cent of the market that Australia supplies to Indonesia through 'wet' meat, and if you take away the approximately 10 per cent that Indonesians consume by way of chilled meat, you are left with the 70 per cent of cattle, mainly Indonesian, that are slaughtered daily. This blanket suspension of Australia's live cattle trade to Indonesia does nothing to stop cruelty for the 70 per cent of cattle that are slaughtered in Indonesia.

Where is the evidence upon which the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and the government have based their decision? The minister has been cowed into submission. Indeed, he has been cowed into suspension; there is no evidence to back his decision to suspend the trade. Not only has this minister never visited a working Indonesian abattoir but he failed to commit to having been inside a working Australian abattoir. He has failed to identify any direct, practical knowledge upon which he based his decision. What has changed between the minister saying that he has raised this issue with the industry and his suspension of the trade? Has there been any change in treatment of cattle in Indonesia over those alleged months? No. What has changed is that we have seen a TV program, and that TV program and the resultant swelling of well-intentioned support in the community has cowed this government into suspension.

It is all pain and no gain with this suspension of trade. This government has no courage and no policy conviction. They must resume the trade immediately with those five or so abattoirs that the industry says are compliant. (Time expired)