Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia) Share this | Hansard source

So that Senator Colbeck can have a very brief stay I am going to confine my remarks to about two minutes. I draw the Senate's attention to the last two recommendations of this report—that is:

6.45 The committee recommends that the Australian government, in consultation with the live export industry and other ancillary businesses develops a package of further assistance or reallocates existing packages of assistance to address those identifiable and otherwise irrecoverable financial costs incurred as a result of the temporary suspension of live cattle exports to Indonesia.

A lot of people who cannot afford it lost a lot of money through no fault of their own. I hope and urge the government will take notice of that recommendation to get a proper package of assistance ready.

I also draw to the Senate's attention the final recommendation, which, summarising, asks the government to establish a dialogue with financial institutions with regard to the financial difficulties faced, as a result of the suspension, by producers and businesses involved in the live export cattle industry. It is an area that I come from—it is Northern Australia's biggest industry apart from mining—and banks are being rather nasty to people up that way in the approaches they are taking. I hope the government and the Treasurer can put some pressure on the banks to get them to deal very leniently with their defaulting beef producer clients. There is a way through it. The banks will not achieve anything by foreclosing on farmers. If it were possible for them to work cooperatively and for the government to lean on the banks to do that then we might get something out of this. I will conclude my remarks there so that my colleague may be able to have 60 seconds or so.