Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

Mr Deputy President:

He hails from Snowy River, up by Kosciusko's side,

Where the hills are twice as steep and twice as rough,

Where a horse's hoofs strike firelight from the flint stones every stride,

The man that holds his own is good enough.

And the Snowy River riders on the mountains make their home,

Where the river runs those giant hills between;

I have seen full many horsemen since I first commenced to roam,

But nowhere yet such horsemen have I seen.

I get a bit emotional when I read that, because the best horseman I ever saw was my grandfather. He could turn a pony on a 20c piece. He played polocrosse right through the High Country—we got rid of our leases in the 1930s—and he could make Hiawatha run backwards, so I am told. The skills that make you a cattleman are important. The culture that you practice makes you a cattleman. The heritage value of that community is important. In the once-every-five-year review of the Heritage List I would argue that cattlemen's cultural practices are worthy of actually being included with a heritage assessment—