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Wednesday, 17 August 2011
Page: 4621

Senator IAN MACDONALD (Queensland) (10:45): Minister, I would appreciate your advice on a question I have. You will be aware that the northern beef industry was a very important part of Australia's agricultural activities. It provided food for Australians but, perhaps more importantly, also for our nearest neighbour, Indonesia, a country of 200 million-plus people who live closer to me than I do to Canberra or Melbourne. Indonesia is a very important neighbour of ours and one which we have assisted over many, many years. Part of that assistance has been to provide Indonesians with the protein that red meat provides and that was through, of course, exporting live cattle from Australia to Indonesia and then having those cattle slaughtered in Indonesia, in many cases by smaller abattoirs because of the lack of refrigeration in Indonesia. I say this by way of preamble to my question.

The minister would be aware that his decision in, first of all, banning from export those abattoirs that had a proven cruel record was appropriate, and the northern beef industry would have coped with that. By way of background, I simply relate that the minister was then spooked by the left wing of his party, by the Greens, by GetUp! and by all those other fringe groups who have little interest in Australia but who have a lot of interest in maintaining the Labor-Greens alliance in the federal parliament. The minister, completely spooked by those people and by the left wing of his own party, changed his decision overnight and invoked a total ban.

The biggest impact on the beef industry, which of course was the main supplier to the Indonesian protein market, was in Northern Australia. Clearly they are people whom I have a lot of association with and I try to help them as much as I can in a wide range of areas. My office and the office of any other politician in Northern Australia, state or federal, has been overwhelmed by the response from family farmers in the north whose livelihoods and indeed, in some cases, lives have been shattered by yet another stupid decision of the Gillard government.

My question in relation to this bill before us is this, Minister: is the Carbon Farming Initiative and this amendment likely in some way to benefit the northern beef industry that is now struggling to maintain its presence? The minister will be aware—

Senator Milne: The answer is 'yes' because you are supporting the amendment. You are actually supporting it.

Senator IAN MACDONALD: I am asking—

Senator Milne: So, why are you asking the question?

Senator IAN MACDONALD: Thank you.

Senator Milne: You are supporting this amendment.

Senator IAN MACDONALD: Thank you, Senator. I have some particular interest in this issue. The minister is putting—

Senator Milne interjecting—

Senator IAN MACDONALD: I know you are not interested, Senator Milne. You want to stop cattle—in fact, you want to stop people eating red meat in Australia, continuously.

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN ( Senator Ludlam ): Senator Macdonald, could you address the senator through the chair, and I ask you to draw your remarks back to the amendment before the chamber.

Senator IAN MACDONALD: Thank you, Mr Temporary Chairman, your protection against these outrageous interjections, these attacks on me, these unparliamentary interjections would be appreciated. In that way I will not be distracted in responding to those unparliamentary interjections by the Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens. Suffice it to say, I am well aware that the Greens would like to stop all red meat eating in Australia and shut down the beef cattle industry in its entirety.

Minister, back to the question I was asking you. Senator Milne rightly points out that we are supporting the amendment in principle but, Minister, could you explain to me how northern beef producers might be able to take advantage of this amendment and, indeed, this whole bill? The northern beef producers are absolutely decimated by your government's decision. The minister will be aware of course that many of the beef cattle producers in Northern Australia are indeed Indigenous cattle producers. They, like every other cattle producer, will be struggling to make ends meet. I am just hoping that the minister can assure me that there is something in this bill and in this amendment which will allow some small relief to the northern beef cattle industry that the minister almost single-handedly destroyed. Minister, I give you the opportunity, of course, to redeem your decision that has just about, as I say, destroyed the northern beef cattle industry. Perhaps your response could give some hope to the northern beef cattle industry that there is something in this bill and its amendments that will enable industry players in the north to get some assistance. The best assistance the minister could give would be to say that the whole carbon tax policy was off the table. You recall, Mr Chairman, that just a year ago the leader of the Labor Party—the current Prime Minister—promised hand on heart that there would be no carbon tax under a government she led and here we are one year later dealing with legislation surrounding the introduction of the tax she promised would never be introduced in a government she led. She was not on her own, of course. We all know that the Treasurer, Mr Swan, was equally vociferous in assuring Australians that if they voted for the Labor Party—

Senator Birmingham: They were hysterical allegations.

Senator IAN MACDONALD: Absolutely. He accused Tony Abbott of making hysterical allegations when Tony Abbott said, 'As sure as night follows day, the Greens-Labor alliance will introduce a carbon tax.' Wayne Swan was out there assuring everybody that Mr Abbott was simply being hysterical, but we know one year later that the promises of Ms Gillard and Mr Swan mean nothing. One wonders about the promises that the minister, on behalf of Ms Gillard, is making in this bill and the promises he is making on regulations under this bill. Will they be kept or will they suffer the same fate as the promise of Ms Gillard that, 'There will be no carbon tax under a government I lead'?

What can you believe of anything the minister tells us? He is telling us what might be in the regulations; he is making certain commitments and promises. We have done that before. We as the Australian public actually believed Ms Gillard and Mr Swan a year ago when they said, 'There will be no carbon tax under the government I lead.' We have now worked out to Australia's absolute detriment that you simply cannot believe anything a government led by Ms Gillard says. I guess all of these debates are a little academic. We have the history of the Labor-Greens alliance. We know the leader, Ms Gillard, will promise you something to get a personal and political advantage and, as soon as it suits her, she will completely renege on that solemn promise.

Minister, your decision on the live cattle trade was about as well thought through as the carbon tax proposal. Perhaps that is not right. Perhaps you did give a bit more thought to the carbon tax proposal because you desperately need money from any source and this is one way you can get it. I guess you did give a bit of thought to how you could get more money into the coffers to make up for Labor's profligate, wasteful spending on a range of projects. The decision you made on the live cattle exports was made obviously without thought. Once you gave it a bit of thought you realised the huge mistake you had made. You have tried to ameliorate that.

I hear that the first shipment of live cattle is either on the way or being prepared for export to Indonesia now, but it is only a fraction of what was a very prominent industry that kept many beef producers, many Indigenous families and communities in productive, full-time work in the north, which you have almost destroyed with that ill-thought-through decision. In the context of this bill and this amendment, I am wondering whether there is some message of hope that you can give the northern beef cattle industry for something they might be able to gain from this to help them through the awful financial, business and personal situation many of them find themselves in at this time.