Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

There are two parts, at least, to that question. One, of course, is that the opposition fail to appreciate—or are ignorant of it—that abattoirs which meet OIE standards in themselves are not sufficient. It is about ensuring that we do have in place a supply chain so that we can track, and also monitor and verify, from the point of leaving the port to the point of a feedlot in Indonesia, and to the point of the slaughterhouse in Indonesia so that there is not any leakage.

What those on the other side want to accept is that animal welfare would not be taken into account in their proposal of simply looking at an abattoir alone, because there would be leakage in the system. What those opposite are now saying, of course, is, 'Restart the trade without taking animal welfare considerations into account'. That is what the opposition are putting to the parliament today. (Time expired)