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'Political bastardry' - ALEC damns passing of sheep ban bill

Mark Harvey-Sutton, CEO of the Australian Livestock Exporters’ Council said the passage of the sheep ban bill through the House of Representatives was an act of ‘political bastardry’.

“This is an outrage, which hasn’t been seen by Australian agriculture in decades and industry will continue to fight the ban. We would welcome a Senate inquiry to examine this entirely unfair nature of the bill, which has no scientific basis at all,”

“We are appalled at the haste this bill, which has been shoved through the House of Representatives. Many of the 10, 000 submissions were dismissed out of hand and went unread and unanswered. How can the government say it has adequately considered the damage this bill will do?”

Mr Harvey-Sutton said the bill needed the scrutiny of a Senate Inquiry as foreshadowed by Minister Watt at Senate Estimates, but that it absolutely needed to examine the merits of the ban, not just how to do it!

“This move is a slap in the face to Australian farmers and ignores the needs of our growing overseas markets,” he said.

“The ridiculous speed and lack of transparency demonstrated by the government is an outrage. It is a process that should make any Australian who works in an industry pursued by activists, unfortunately need to look over their shoulder. Will it be your industry and job next?”

MEDIA

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