Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) | Hansard source

Finally, after years of campaigning, years of whistleblowing and years of community activism—in fact, after decades of all of those things—we're going to set a date to ban live sheep export, and of course we're going fund a package to help farmers and communities in the transition. Change is constant; that is a condition of humanity, but sensible governments and parliaments acknowledge that we need to change, and we'll help people through those changes and support them through transitions. Whether it's the change we inevitably need to have as we respond to the breakdown of the planet's climate or the change we inevitably need to have to reduce the suffering of animals—which this legislation, the Export Control Amendment (Ending Live Sheep Exports by Sea) Bill 2024, will do—we need to help people through the transition.

The Greens have for decades campaigned against live animal exports. We've introduced legislation into this place on more than one occasion to ban live exports, and, finally, after voting against it for far too long, the Labor Party is now finally accepting that a ban is necessary, and we acknowledge that. But 2028 is far too far in the future for a ban to happen, and unfortunately tens of thousands of animals will continue to suffer until then. As folks have already heard from other Greens senators in this place, we intend to introduce amendments to ensure that the industry doesn't ramp up exports before the ban and to try our best to protect sheep until that ban comes into place.

The Greens have fought live export for decades, and we've done it for one very simple reason: animals are sentient beings. They deserve to lead a dignified life and they deserve to lead a life free of suffering. What we need to understand is that, whether it be horses, greyhounds or sheep, animals should not be subjected to suffering, torture or a loss of dignity just to underpin somebody's business model. Animals suffer. They feel pain. Animals are aware of their existence. It's on us not just to make decisions that we won't inflict pain and suffering on animals; it's on us to do everything we can to make sure that they can lead a dignified life.

Animals may not have a voice to come into this place and argue for their own rights and their own interests. They may not have a voice to come into this place and argue that they should be treated humanely. They may not have a voice to come into this place and argue that they should have a life free from suffering inflicted by humans for profit. They may not have a voice to argue those things, but that's what the Greens are here to do: to give voice to those arguments.

The history of live export is replete with the most horrendous animal suffering. Major party governments, the establishment parties in this place, have facilitated the live export trade for many decades. They have condemned many, many tens of thousands of animals to horrific deaths, and many hundreds of thousands of innocent sentient animals have been condemned to long periods of suffering. In 1966, 67,000 sheep died on one vessel alone, the Uniceb. In 1980, 40,000 sheep died on another single vessel. In 2003, over 5,000 sheep died on the MV Cormo Express. In 2014, 4,000 sheep died on another vessel. In 2017, 3,000 sheep died on another vessel and, again, on a separate vessel in 2017, another 2,400 animals died.

These are horrendous figures just on their own, but sheer mortality numbers do not tell the story. Live export is a business model for profit built on the suffering of innocent animals—animals that are sentient beings that feel suffering, just like we all do, and that are aware of their existence, just as we are all aware of our existence. Like horses, greyhounds and a whole range of other species, animals that are subjected to the live export trade have suffering deliberately inflicted on them so that some small number of humans can make a profit. It's not acceptable; it's never been acceptable; it never should have been acceptable. This parliament should never have allowed it, and there is shame on everyone—the establishment politicians in particular, who voted for it time after time over the decades when they were given the opportunity to do the right thing.

I can't let my time speaking on this legislation go past without reflecting on Senator O'Sullivan's contribution that we just heard. I've heard some weird and wacky reasons for supporting the live export trade over my time in politics, but Senator O'Sullivan's argument, boiled down, is this: some farmers overstock their farms. They make bad decisions. Then, when it becomes apparent they've overstocked their farms, they need to inflict suffering on animals in order to get them out of the bad decisions they've made, and it's the animals that are going to suffer for the bad decisions that human farmers have made. I know that it would be only a small number of farmers that Senator O'Sullivan is referring to, but, believe me, that's what his argument boiled down to in the end.

Of course, there's never a good reason to torture an animal, and making a dollar is certainly not a good reason to torture an animal. We've seen dozens of reviews, inquiries and reforms on live exports, but the cruelty has continued and, tragically, the cruelty will continue for years, even after this legislation is passed. We know Australians overwhelmingly do not support live export. They do not support it. Poll after poll shows that as many as 85 per cent of Australians do not support live export. I often say, when you hear numbers that high in a poll, that if you polled support for breathing you'd only get 90 per cent. That is pretty much as high as you get in a poll, 85 per cent. But some polls have shown that that is the level of opposition to live export in this country.

The establishment parties have run interference for this cruel, barbaric practice for far too long. The industry has done everything it can to hide the extent of suffering, and Labor and the LNP governments over the decades have enabled that to occur. It's thanks to brave whistleblowers, courageous activists and hundreds of thousands of Australians who have campaigned so hard that an end to this cruelty has been brought about. This vote today will be a vote that's made possible by those people.

I've sat in on a lot of prominent votes in my time in politics. A lot of votes I've made I'm really proud of. But this vote tonight is a vote for the whistleblowers, a vote for the animal rights activists, a vote for the millions of Australians who do not support live exports and ultimately a vote for animals—those beautiful sentient beings that are aware of their surroundings and who have as much right as we do to lead a dignified life free of suffering; it is a vote for those animals. It will be as profound a vote as I have ever participated in during my time in politics. Those animals may not have a voice to come into this place and argue for their rights, but today a majority of this Senate and therefore a majority of the parliament is going to give voice to the voiceless and we're going to do something for them. That, for me, and I'm sure for many other senators, will be a proud moment.