Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for his question. What has happened in our meat industry and for meatworkers in particular in the last year is unfortunate, and it is concerning. It is an unfortunate legacy of the most severe drought that we have had in Queensland for many years. During the drought there was not enough grass for our graziers and farmers and there was a large turn-off of cattle in North and Western Queensland. At the height of the drought, there were record numbers of cattle going through our meatworks. It peaked at more than 8½ million head through our meatworks a few years ago. That created a lot of work for our meat industry and a lot of work for meatworkers; but, of course, because so much production occurred back then, there is now a reduction in production, and that is having these impacts in terms of lower employment at our meatworks.

What this government will not do is help one group of Australians by penalising another group of Australians. The way to help this industry is not to hurt another group of Australians. One of the groups of people that have been most affected by the drought have been our graziers and producers. If we were to introduce caps or regulations which would hurt their ability to sell their cows—their heifers, their steers—for the best price possible, that would hurt the very people that have been hurt the most by this drought. So what this government is focused on is making sure that our red meat industry has access to markets, that it can maximise its price. The Chinese free trade agreement itself, which has just been concluded, will help remove an $800 million-a-year tax on our red meat industry. That is how much Chinese tariffs cost our red meat industry every year. Through the conclusion of the Chinese free trade agreement that tax will be removed from our industry. That is the way we are going to help our red meat industry. That is the way we are going to help to get more work for our meatworkers and support all of our Australian industries.