Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to speak on behalf of Western Australia's livestock producers, who have once again been sold out by the Albanese Labor government. First, Labor moved to shut down the live sheep export trade, a long-established, regulated industry that supports thousands of jobs and communities across Western Australia. That decision ignored evidence, disregarded trading partners and shattered confidence in government decision-making. Now, Labor is doing the same to our cattle producers.

The reckless decision to allow United States beef imports into Australia—including beef processed from cattle originating in Canada or Mexico—directly undermines Australia's biosecurity and our domestic beef market, and it endangers premium product produced by Western Australian cattle producers, particularly in the north-west of the state. Our northern producers operate to some of the highest biosecurity and traceability standards in the world. Their beef is renowned in international markets. Labor is jeopardising that by opening our market to a beef supply chain that does not meet Australia's rigorous protections. And, as with live exports, it is doing so without proper industry consultation or risk assessment. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has not even met with President Donald Trump since his return to the White House 268 days ago. He has given away access to Australia's beef market without so much as sitting at the table with the President. While the European Union has just concluded a new bilateral trade agreement with the United States, putting their farmers and exporters in a stronger position, Australia remains on the sidelines because the Prime Minister has failed to build this key relationship.

This inability to secure a proper trade agreement is actively damaging Western Australian agriculture and businesses and weakening our nation's economic competitiveness. In 2024, WA producers turned off around 657,000 cattle, producing roughly 34,000 tonnes of beef. These are not just numbers; they are the livelihoods from the Kimberley to the Gascoyne. WA livestock producers have already endured the shutdown of the sheep trade. Now they face price pressures, supply chain uncertainty and biosecurity threats from imported beef. Once again, our producers, including in my home state of Western Australia, are being taken for granted by the Albanese Labor government. It's time for the Prime Minister to look our livestock producers in the eye and answer for his government's growing list of broken promises to the people who feed this country.

Today I'd like to take time to acknowledge the passing of a man whose leadership extended far beyond his faith community—that is, Emeritus Chief Rabbi Dr Shalom Coleman, who passed away on 26 April 2025, aged 106. For more than 40 years Rabbi Coleman served as the chief rabbi of the Perth Hebrew congregation. He was a respected religious figure, a civic leader and a proud Western Australian.

Born into an orthodox family in Liverpool, England, in 1918, he gained a Bachelor of Arts with honours and a Bachelor of Letters in Hebrew and Ancient Semitic Languages and Egyptology at the University of Liverpool. His education was interrupted by World War II, when he served with the Royal Air Force. He returned to university life in 1945 and, at the same time, worked for the final certificate of Jews' College, London, gaining his rabbinic ordination in 1955 before taking postgraduate studies at Cambridge.

In 1961, Rabbi Coleman came to Sydney as Rabbi of the South Head and District Synagogue. He was a member of the Sydney Beth Din, vice-president of the New South Wales Board of Jewish Education and a founding director of the David J Benjamin Institute of Jewish Studies. He established a seminary for the training of Hebrew teachers and lectured in postbiblical Hebrew at the University of Sydney. He received the Sir Robert Waley Cohen Scholarship of the Jewish Memorial Council in London in1964, using it for research into adult education in South-East Asia, Israel and the United States of America. The following year, he became Rabbi of the Perth Hebrew Congregation in Western Australia. Rabbi Coleman obtained land as a gift in trust from the state government for a new synagogue, youth centre and minister's residence.

In addition to his service with the Jewish community and maintaining his interest in the area, Rabbi Coleman taught for the department of adult education at the University of Western Australia and served on the Senate of Murdoch University. A proud Rotarian since 1962, he was both Rotary president and governor, as well as vice-president of the Save the Children fund.

Despite the changes occurring around him, Rabbi Coleman was a man who stood firm. He met with premiers and ministers, advised governments on issues ranging from education to social cohesion and played a key role in building the multicultural, tolerant Western Australia we are so very proud of today.

Rabbi Coleman was a voice for unity in difficult times. When acts of antisemitism appalled the community, he responded not with division but with resolve and calls for solidarity. When tragedy struck abroad or tensions flared at home, he reminded us that democracy, dignity and decency must be our guiding lights. He understood the importance of living values, not just preaching them. He opened the doors of his synagogue to the broader community because he believed, as many of us do, that public faith must lead to public good.

We debate many things in this chamber, but behind those debates lies a deeper question: what kind of society are we seeking to build? Rabbi Coleman had a clear answer to that question, one marked by mutual respect, civic responsibility and compassion for all. Western Australia is a better place for his life's work. To all those whose lives were touched by him, I offer our heartfelt condolences. May his memory continue to guide us.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the 2015 general election in Myanmar, an event that, for a brief and hopeful moment, represented a turning point in that country's long and troubled history. Myanmar was under brutal military rule for decades. Even after the formation of a nominally civilian government in 2011, the military retained sweeping control, including a quarter of all parliamentary seats, under a constitution it wrote itself. And yet the 2015 election marked real progress. It was the first genuinely contested national election in a generation. The National League for Democracy, led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, won a decisive mandate. Voter turnout was high, and the military, surprisingly, accepted the result.

That election would not have been possible without the resilience of the Burmese people. But it was also supported by international engagement, particularly from Australia. The Australian government provided a total of $5.4 million to support Myanmar's 2015 election, and a bipartisan delegation of Australian parliamentarians, which included me, travelled to Myanmar to witness the event. We assisted in ensuring transparency, credibility and a degree of global attention. It was a meaningful act of solidarity on our part—a signal that Australia stood with those seeking democratic reform in our region. The delegation's final report noted a peaceful and largely fair process. But it also pointed to serious flaws, especially the disenfranchisement of ethnic minorities and the ongoing power of the military under the constitution.

Sadly, those flaws would later be exploited, with terrible consequences. In 2020, the NLD won an even larger majority in another credible election. But in February of the following year, and before the new parliament could convene, the military staged a coup. It arrested leaders, imposed a state of emergency and plunged Myanmar back into repression. Since then, thousands have been killed, tens of thousands have been imprisoned, millions have been displaced and today refugee numbers surge. It is no overstatement to say that the hopes of 2015 lie in ruins.

And yet the legacy of that election still matters. Australia has an important role to continue to play, offering humanitarian assistance and supporting international accountability for crimes committed by the military. Importantly for Australian parliamentarians, we must stand united and speak with one voice to restore democracy and human rights to Myanmar. (Time expired)