Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Trade) | Hansard source

It may be a novel concept to those on the other side of this argument that an opposition should construct a policy, should receive a mandate and should implement and do what it said that it would do. I know this is a foreign concept to those opposite. It's not something that they ever did in government, but this is a government that does what it says that it was going to do. And we have worked through our election program in a systematic way, and you know what? Australians want governments that do what they say they are going to do.

When you look at the merits of the arguments that are put for this errant campaign, what was see is an industry in decline. In 2014-15, 2.1 million sheep were exported by sea at a value of $224 million; in 2021-22, 475,000 sheep were exported by sea at a value of $80 million—a complete collapse during the period that the opposition was in government. And what support did they offer this industry—that they now say is an utterly core principle for them to protect? Nothing. What did the previous government do to assist this industry to deal with the social licence values that have so utterly collapsed? Nothing. There was no contribution. Live exports by sea decreased by $144 million over that period and by over 1½ million head.

The Leader of the Nationals, Mr Littleproud, has said that the coalition partnership is contingent on the reinstatement of the live sheep export trade. That's what's really going on here. It's an opposition that, in government, utterly failed to support this sector. It completely failed to assist them to transition to value adding onshore or to more exports of boxed meat offshore. That is what people in country towns need. It's more decent jobs in our meat-processing sector. There was no effort from the previous government in that regard, and now there has been a sustained performance over a couple of weeks on that issue.

The truth is it's an industry that is in terminal decline. The proposition that this government offers is a serious and substantial package to ensure that the industry is able to work through the difficult issues of transition and value adding and all of the other issues that confront them. The alternative is a continued terminal decline and continued zero support from government. This is a government that will support the agricultural sector, even when times are tough and even when there is disagreement. We will work in partnership with the sector to get things done.