Kelvin Thomson MP: Live Animal Export Parliamentary Speech 30/5/11

[stunningoutburst]

Please label all Halal products. Vegemite is Halal.

[SoulBeat123]

THANK YOU Kevin Thompson! For "getting it" and conveying the FACTS so well.

Thanks to politicians like you speaking up for the millions of voiceless animals, and decent, good hearted, intelligent Australians ... in parliament! We know it is only a matter of time, and your honourable, intelligent grasp on this matter is certain to help it be sooner.

[Operationjugular]

PROTEST RALLY ON THE 14TH OF AUGUST IN EVERY CAPITAL CITY IN AUSTRALIA TO PUT AN END TO LIVESTOCK EXPORTS.....

[MrsStraubs1]

This is not able to be fixed quickly and may take two years to get back to normal. A stun gun is humane and if Indonesia will bend a little and use the method in all abattoirs everyone will be happy. I know the footage was old footage but these government departments and activists will stoop to anything for the sympathy vote of people who don't know any better.

[djc0248]

@MrsStraubs1 Footage is NOT old, Indonesia should bend over! It's Australian Cattle and the MLA who built those Torture boxes and "trained" the heathens, Australia should NOT "bend" to Muslim demands! If they woant our meet talks should have been held with Muslim Clerics and a Fatwa issued allowing stunning, some Muslims leaders will allow this, self regulation and the corrupt Indonesian Govt along with the ignorant non Union labor advised by the MLA bending to Muslims caused this!

[MrsStraubs1]

You will not ever be able to completely stamp out animal cruelty in foreign countries. And it would be naive to think that all abattoirs in Indonesia will adhere to our standards if we don't have a plan in place to constantly monitor how the cattle are treated. I come from a cattle station and love cattle and cattle industry. The point I was making is that the government don't give a damn about there own people/constituents.

[djc0248]

The MLA and Farmers who have caused millions on animals to suffer in Countries where there are NO welfare Laws should be ashamed to call themselves Australian!

Truth is the live export trade forced many thousands of AUSTRALIANS to loose their jobs due to the closure of Abattoirs in NT and WA! Farmers didn't care about those workers! Re opening these Abattoirs and building new ones [as NZ ] would create thousands of jobs, Farmers loose nothing, and animals could be slaughtered Humanely! DAH!

[MrsStraubs1]

I say drive them to the port and load them up anyway!!! Show this government that we will not be starved out and that they should have consulted with the people concerned before they ban the Live Export Trade!!! Labor hand the Greens have to go!!!!!

[MrsStraubs1]

The people of the Northern Territory are being forced out of there properties because they cant pay for fuel and staff to water and feed their stock. Bulloo River Station is just one of the huge properties effected. 800,000 head of cattle will die of thirst or have to be shot of trade is not resumed. Would you like the government to take your livelyhood away in one foul swoop and let your family starve.

[djc0248]

@MrsStraubs1 No Farmer will be forced off property, No animal should die, The Govt has just given you people $30 Million in aid in order that this does NOT happen! The Govt did NOT take your livelihood away YOU people sold your souls when you all signed up for the the export trade years ago, and being contracted to the MLA YOU are responsible for the Indonesian and Middle East Disgrace! Why can't Farmers get some backbone, follow NZ they banned live export 4 years ago NO one went broke! 

[MrsStraubs1]

The footage used to force the ban of live trade was 5 years old this was verified by the ear tags on the cattle which is logged into the computer when the animal is sold. There is an easy fix for this problem that the government is ignoring - the use of stun guns before slaughter.

[djc0248]

@MrsStraubs1 $ corners footage is from 201, animals exported to Indonesia and middle East have been abused for years and suffer on the ship too! The Countries in question are MUSLIM, they demand Halal slaughter=NO stun gun, throat cut, fully conscious, Muslim payer said over it, hung on hook by the leg till it dies in agony! The MLA built the slaughter boxes and trained the workers in Indonesia with aid from Australian Govt tax payers money!

[LinandGraham]

Kelvin, we applaud you from the bottom of our hearts. You are to be congratulated for having the courage to speak out when most of your colleagues have not. You are a decent human being who believes that all living creatures must be treated humanely. And you have clearly outlined to your fellow politicans that frozen exporting is possible and it is far better for the economy of Australia. Thank you, I wish I was in your electorate. How can we make the others see the light?

[waronmondays]

I love this idea. "OMG A TV SHOW SHOWED SOMETHING WHICH BARELY HAPPENS!! WE'D BETTER BAN LIVE EXPORTS!!"

What's next, The Simpsons showing homer drink driving, so now we're banning drinking? Fuck this, I'm voting liberal now.

[sleepypanda84]

@waronmondays Barely happens? How could you possibly know that? There's nothing wrong with investigating these claims. That last bit about The Simpsons makes no sense. It's about looking at the facts and doing something about the problem.

[penfloyd]

Now lets end ALL live export......No matter what facilities are put into place the bottom line is that countries that have no laws to protect animals will never change.

Well done Kelvin......You have my vote!

[1Serval]

Does the US export to them also? This is horrific.

[dbec1000]

Excellent Kelvin...Andrew Wilkie was quite correct in saying that Labor has gone from the party who always held the moral high ground, to one that has lost it in recent times. It's refreshing to witness that it is not indemic of all of your colleagues. You and your colleagues, the members for Page and Lyons should be congratulated for representing your local constituents, and the hundreds of thousands of other Aussies appalled by this industry, by standing up against the party line. Thank you

[jackhateya]

Hear, Hear Kelvin! You're one of the very few politicians who speaks from the heart and tries their best to do the right thing. LIVE EXPORT IS WRONG and should have been banned many years ago. What happens to animals in those countries is utterly disgusting and shouldn't be allowed. Greed, greed, bloody greed...that's why live export continues, and shame on ALL involved.

[biffandmuffi]

GOD BLESS YOU KELVIN THOMSON, THANKYOU FROM ALL THE HUMANS AND ALL THE ANIMALS!

[jtking2504]

Well done Kelvin Thomson for speaking up for the vast majority of Australians who are against this trade.

[OneiroscopeB]

A politician with ethics? I thought they were extinct.

[terrythekittie]

@OneiroscopeB - no, there are a few in the 'Greens'..but when they speak up for refugees (including children)in detention centres they are accused of being bleeding hearts or even extreme.

[1915sanderson]

@terrythekittie you're confusing refugees with the clients of people smugglers.

[terrythekittie]

@1915sanderson - well at least you didn't use the term 'queue jumpers'...'clients of people smugglers'..I'll give you points for originality...but when you are at the end of the tether and you give over your live savings to the people smugglers to get to a land that you would think would have some compassion you are an asylum seeker...whether you like that or not that's too bad..Australia signs up to international conventions we have to abide by.

[1915sanderson]

@terrythekittie 'queue jumpers' would have been equally apt. Both descriptions are demonstrably true.

Due to economic realities Australia can only take a finite number of refugees and I would prefer these limited places to go to people whose legitimacy can be verified and not to people who, often by their own admission, deliberately discard their identity papers to avoid scrutiny. Do you have any compassion for the millions sitting in squalid refugee camps with no 'life savings' and no hope?

[terrythekittie]

@1915sanderson - economic realities eh?..well how about the mining boom.?.how about bringing the troops back from Afghanistan and save a few million there eh?.'''you haven't got a clue....you are obviously a liberal voter.

[1915sanderson]

@terrythekittie Has the mining boom cleared our national debt? Regarding your cheap slur, I vote for whomever I think will provide sensible responsible governance. In the past I've voted Labor, Liberal and Democrats. You, on the other hand, are clearly too irrational to be given such a privilege.

[terrythekittie]

@1915sanderson - probably unfair to narrow you down to a Lib voter..but you are typical of the 21st century insular whiter than white Australian...believe me there is enough wealth in this country to support a few thousand desperate people who have nowhere else to turn to...you never have a complaint from Australians when we spend millions each time a useless royal visits our shores..and barely a complaint about the millions into billions we are wasting in Afghanistan.

[1915sanderson]

@terrythekittie yes it was unfair. as was accusing me of being insular when I haven't expressed any objection to Australia's refugee intake (and quite frankly I've never met anyone who does, white or otherwise) What I object to is an impotent disingenuous federal government allowing criminal people smugglers to decide who we take as citizens, especially since they had virtually been put out business only three short years ago. look at the mess now.

[1915sanderson]

@terrythekittie btw, I completely agree regarding Afghanistan, even though you would be hard pressed finding an Afghani who would like the Taliban back. Perhaps some of those people falling over themselves to leave should do what my grandparent's generation did when faced with tyranny.. practise a bit of self-sacrifice.

[showlink]

Well done to Kelvin Thomson for speaking out. You have the support of the Australian people in your efforts to ban this brutality.

[penning2u]

Thanks for having the guts to speak about this, and before the Four Corner's report went to air. We need more pollies like you!