“An essential element of maintaining an active market in the sale of sheep and cattle relies on our capacity to export live animals. It’s important to go to the crux of the issue and that is, quite bluntly, we are protein and are sustained by protein and, in this process, the consumption of meat is an essential part of our diet.
“A glance in the mirror will show all they are bequeathed with incisors and molars for the consumption of meat. I make this statement by reason that there should be no moral question associated with our desire for a balanced diet, including red meat. The live animal export industry allows Australia to not be totally reliant upon a domestic abattoir industry which provides neither capacity nor competition to deliver the best returns to the farm.
“Australia now even lacks the capacity to properly deliver the workforce required for our current abattoir operations and we rely strongly on overseas workers with 457 visas to keep the abattoirs operational and the majority domestic Australian workforce in a job, by reason of this.
“An abattoir without a full complement of workers cannot operate. Therefore, if we did not have overseas workers many of the abattoirs would have to close down, meaning the Australian employees could lose their jobs.
“Live animal exports also allow Australia to export meat to countries which lack adequate refrigeration, requiring the animals to be kept alive until they wish to consume them.
“It is an industry worth $1 billion a year to the Australian economy and creates around 9 000 jobs in regional areas. It is sustainable, renewable and promotes good cultural and economic ties between Australia and its near neighbours.
“We have the capacity in Australia to be proactive in our animal husbandry so as to remove unnecessary cruelty to our stock and have developed the necessary control mechanisms to promote animal husbandry over many years.
“We will never be able to completely isolate stock losses during transport, just like you can’t isolate stock losses in the paddock, and to attempt to do so would be impossible, both logistically and financially.
“In summary, Australia has a great live animal export industry which does not detract from internal support for our abattoir industry, it has added to it. It has provided a vital income stream to our northern remote areas. It has been the mechanism for promoting good commercial and economic ties with our near Asian neighbours and the Middle East and a continued attack on it is detrimental to all who wish to live in the other realm away from a vegetarian nirvana.” Senator Joyce said.