Subject: Live Sheep export
LAURA JAYES (HOST): Welcome back to News Day. As we’ve heard, Labor will move to end the live export of sheep. The transition time, well, we’re not so sure about that, but Joel Fitzgibbon has told Sky News today that it should be under a decade this will all be put in place if Labor wins the next election. But could it be sooner than that? Joining me now live is the member for Fremantle, Josh Wilson, who called for the end of the life sheep export trade, and he has long called for it. Josh Wilson, first of all, your reaction to this news today?
JOSH WILSON: Hi, Laura. Well, I’m very pleased. I think it continues the leadership that the Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Labor have shown on this issue. It’s a momentous step. We are, for the first time, seeing the long missing ingredient, which is that that leadership at the government level to make the transition that we know we need.
JAYES: Now, you called for this, you’ve long called for this, as I said, but your Labor Party, your team, wasn’t quite on board. Why do you think we’re seeing this announcement now?
WILSON: Well, I think there are a lot of people in Labor that have taken the view that live export is inherently cruel, and that the regulatory system has been an abject failure. There have been people have had that view for a long time. We’ve made progress to where we’ve got to. Obviously, recent events have helped clarify the position. We didn’t, in my view, need any more evidence that this was an industry that delivered systemic cruelty to animals, but we’ve certainly had that evidence, and it’s now time to make the transition out.
JAYES: What hand have you had with this announcement behind the scenes?
WILSON: Behind the scenes? Well, I don’t know I do all my work up front. I work in my community, in the parliament. I talk to my colleagues, obviously, and people like yourself, anyone who listen really on this issue. I welcome what Joel Fitzgibbon…
JAYES: But has the Agriculture Minister Joel Fitz, given sort your counsel over the last weeks and months. Has Bill Shorten done the same?
WILSON: I’m very glad to be able to speak with all my colleagues. I have spoken with Joel about this a number of times. He’s always given me a really good hearing, and I’ve spoken to Bill too. So, it’s a healthy collaborative caucus that I’m a part of, and I relish that.
JAYES: Well, how do you think this will actually work? Of course, Joel Fitzgibbon has emphasized there needs to be a transition here, and we need to make sure that farmers aren’t put out and need to really build up an industry of meat packing. How do you envisage that will be done, and the time frame in which it can be done?
WILSON: Well, I guess there’s a few elements. The first thing is that there’s that capacity for processing exists. It would need to be augmented. There need to be some investment to improve that, but it exists now. The live export trade has been in serious decline for some time. Earlier in the century, there were 6 million sheep. At the moment, it’s about one and a half million sheep. By contrast, our exports to the Middle East of fresh, bagged sheep and chilled and boxed meat have grown dramatically. So that is the future in any case, and a responsible government would be working with the producers to support them to create a more stable, higher value-added industry that will see…
JAYES: But how much transition time. Do you need?
WILSON: Well, it’s possible, I think, to put a number on it. I think it can happen in a small number of years.
JAYES: Two years?
WILSON: I think it can happen very quickly, two or three years. I think it’s possible to achieve that, obviously subject to the details of a kind of a transition package.
JAYES: Okay, and what do you want to see in that package?
WILSON: Well, I think it would make sense for government to look at how it works with producers and the processing industry to address what is currently the price premium gap. You could guarantee or underwrite and provide some certainty around what that would be going forward. You would invest in, or provide assistance to, local processing infrastructure, and you would do some trade facilitation work to make sure that we get the largest possible share of what is the future in this part of the livestock industry.
JAYES: Look, Bill Shorten a couple of weeks ago said he wanted to wait to this review. That review hasn’t been handed down, and it is still another two weeks off. Why do you think he has pre-empted this? Or why do you think Labor has reacted before that review.
WILSON: I don’t think it’s a case of pre-empting it. We’ve always said we will look at the reviews. There have been events. It’s a fast-developing space. I mean, even in the last week since I last spoke to you, we’ve seen evidence that Wellard, one of the participants in the industry, raised with government the fact that there were these substandard vessels operating, and that they were likely to cause catastrophic animal welfare events. Now, somehow, like so many things in this industry, that just sank without a trace. We’ve never heard that, and that’s because the government has been derelict. It’s been missing in action and, as those things have occurred, I think it’s pushed along the debate in this space.
JAYES: Josh Wilson, you know how the numbers work on the floor of the House of Parliament, you’re not the only one with these views. We had Sussan Ley on the program a short time ago saying, essentially, she wouldn’t rule out crossing the floor if a Bill was presented that, you know, suited her. We have the Greens supporting this, Derryn Hinch, Ian Goodenough, Jason Wood have expressed concerns about the live sheep trade. Will you push for this to happen before the next election, potentially in the next couple of weeks, if the numbers are there on the floor of the House?
WILSON: Well, I’ve always said my position on the issue is clear. Where I think it should go is clear, and I’ll work constructively with people in the parliament to achieve that. I’ll focus my work within the Labor Party. The Labor Party has taken a big step forward on this issue today and shown the kind of leadership that’s been missing. But I’ve been talking with Sussan Ley and others, and I’ll continue to do so.
JAYES: So, do you think it will happen before the next election?
WILSON: Look, I don’t know. If you’ve lived where I live, if you’ve lived in Fremantle, and you’ve watched this industry and its failures for a number of years, number of decades you don’t want to get ahead of yourself. I pay tribute to all the people who have been fighting this cause for a long time. We seem to be at a point where momentous and long-awaited change is possible. I look forward to that. It’s not going to happen today or tomorrow. I encourage people to just keep working together and keep lifting their voices in support of this cause.
JAYES: But you’re encouraged by your colleagues in the parliament from multiple parties, the government, the cross bench, the Greens that are on the same page as you. Surely, Josh Wilson, if you got these people together, you might be able to see this sooner rather than later. Will you be trying to make sure that does happen?
WILSON: Well, I am trying to make sure that that does happen. I am talking to people across the parliament, but I am first and foremost talking with my Labor colleagues.
JAYES: So, you wouldn’t rule out supporting Sussan Ley’s bill. You wouldn’t rule out supporting the Greens bill.
WILSON: Well, I don’t think anyone should rule anything in or out until they’ve seen the details of it. I’m looking forward to catching up with people, Sussan Ley and others in the House next week, and I’ll look at all these things and try to be a constructive part of seeing change occur.
JAYES: We’ll talk then. Josh Wilson, thanks so much. Thank you joining me now.
ENDS
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