Parliamentary Procedure

PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS ACT

The Hon. G.M. GUNN (Stuart) (11:01): I move:

That the regulations made under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1985 entitled Electrical Devices, made on 23 August 2007 and laid on the table of this house on 11 September 2007, be disallowed.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. G.M. GUNN: Mr Speaker, it takes me a lot of effort to get on my feet.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. G.M. GUNN: This good-hearted bantering (I suppose that is what it is) is somewhat unusual in my case.

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson: Surprise the villain, Gunny.

The Hon. G.M. GUNN: I will, and we will use an electric device on you.

Mr Williams: I bet there was one in the caucus meeting yesterday.

The Hon. G.M. GUNN: Well, I think there might have been. I understand, Mr Speaker, that you would like me to come back to the matter before the house. This involves a number of regulations which this government foolishly and unwisely put before the parliament with the sole purpose of making life difficult for those people who are conducting rodeos—volunteers, good hardworking people, running these community events, raising money for the Flying Doctor Service and providing entertainment for thousands.

We have this government and its band of bureaucrats who sit behind it filling ministers' heads with absolute nonsense without a scrap of evidence to say that what these people are doing is wrong. The only people who should be able to give directions are veterinary surgeons, not this band of agitators of which the government seems to be taking more notice—

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson: It wouldn't be the police, would it?

The Hon. G.M. GUNN: The honourable Attorney-General—not only do they distinguish themselves with their foolishness on this, they now want to give us another free kick in the goal square, because they want to enforce people to carry their driver's licence. Well, we will make an issue of it—make no mistake. The Attorney-General and his little slippery mate have created a situation in Port Augusta. He will need more than that to be successful. Getting back to this regulation, I point out that, fortunately, the other place in its wisdom disallowed a number of regulations, which was a very good thing. We have the Marrabel Rodeo coming up very soon, and those people are the victims of outrageous behaviour by the RSPCA and others. These sorts of regulations have been put in place to try to make their lives more difficult.

It is hard enough to get people to be the authorised officers and to be involved in the running of these things. If they were unpopular, you would not get thousands of people to come along to these events. I would like to know from those who sit behind the Attorney-General why it is necessary to have all these regulations when the largest rodeo in the world, the Calgary Stampede, does not have to put up with any of these sorts of nonsensical regulations. They have 1.2 million people attending that event, including the Prime Minister of Canada and the Premier of Alberta. They come from the United States and all around the world to attend it. They have no permits or licences; they do not have to make reports, and it is a great event. I would recommend it to anyone, and I am looking forward to attending it in the future.

I have met with the people who run the event over there, and they have told me that they would not put up with this sort of nonsense. I thought that was a refreshing point of view. They would not put up with it. Not only do they have the Calgary Stampede: they have other rodeos right across the United States and Canada. The next thing they will be targeting is gymkhanas and country race meetings because they have horses and buck jumpers there.

Mr Goldsworthy: Goodness!

The Hon. G.M. GUNN: Goodness me! What next? I commend my motion to the house. Why do they not accept some common sense and get out of the way of this? Why is it—

Mr Pengilly interjecting:

The Hon. G.M. GUNN: Well, we understand there has been some fun upstairs but we will come to that later in the day. I would probably be out of order if I spoke about that—

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. G.M. GUNN: I normally like to stay within the confines of standing orders. Why do the people in question want to make life as difficult as they possibly can? I would like an explanation. These people must be pretty sour; perhaps they eat lemons for breakfast! Why would they want to be engaged in this sort of activity? They must really be unhappy. Nevertheless, here we have this regulation. The electrical devices they are talking about are used to load stock animals. If you have had anything to do with loading sheep, cattle or pigs, you know they have to be given a bit of encouragement. If you have ever tried to load a mob of sheep on a hot day, you know they can be a bit grumpy.

Why do the people concerned not sit down and discuss this issue in a rational and responsible way and come to some sensible conclusions? Why was it that the minister handed out the press release before the budget estimates committee even before the people who had been affected knew anything about it? Who was the architect of this? We know who it is, but I want the minister to tell us. This is just one of a number of things being done to make life difficult. I have in my constituency the Carrieton Rodeo and rodeos at Spalding, Peterborough and Wilmington. They are night events that are well attended. In Carrieton's case, they support the Royal Flying Doctor Service and the community store. They are very reasonable, responsible and hard-working people, as are all the others involved in these events.

I think it is about time that the parliament took action to help and assist these people, rather than trying to put bureaucratic red tape and nonsense in their way and trying to make life difficult for them. These volunteers are also trying to make a living under fairly difficult conditions. I therefore recommend that this house disallows this unnecessary, unwise and quite foolish regulation in the interests of people who conduct rodeos and other activities and who are good hardworking people. We should be supporting them, not hindering them.

The Hon. R.G. KERIN (Frome) (11:10): I will speak briefly in support of the motion of the member for Stuart. I agree with virtually everything he said. The Marrabel Rodeo is in my electorate. It is a very important function for the whole area. They have had a few hard times lately. I have seen firsthand how the bureaucrats have handled some of those people and threatened legal action against people who are just good community people, including farmers in the local area who have put their shoulder to the wheel to raise money for that particular rodeo and the number of local charities that benefit.

These people know what they are doing. These people have worked with animals all their life. It is very sad when you see bureaucrats, who probably have had very little to do with animals, make out that they know much more about animal welfare than the farmers who are actually doing much of the work with the rodeos. As the member for Stuart said, if they want to improve animal welfare in any way, then they need to work with these people, not against them. At the moment, it just seems that they do work against these people and the organisations running the rodeos.

I take the opportunity to thank those volunteers. Rodeos have made a comeback over the years. There was a time when even the Crystal Brook rodeo disappeared. They are a great source of entertainment and a get-together for many country folk. They are also very important fundraisers in many of our communities. As the member said, many of those communities are really battling, particularly places such as Wilmington and other towns in the electorate of Stuart that are holding rodeos. They really do pull the community together at a difficult time. It is also one way of raising money to help many of the local charities as it brings people into the area. I congratulate those people on their efforts and certainly support the comments of the member for Stuart.

Mr PENGILLY (Finniss) (11:13): I also rise to support the Hon. Graham Gunn's motion. In fact, I have great pleasure in supporting it. What is trying to be perpetrated upon the good people of regional and country South Australia is a nonsense. As has been indicated by other members in this place, rodeos have been a part of the Australian country way of life ad infinitum and should continue in that way for many more years.

On a more localised basis, for a number of years, we have had a rodeo at Yankalilla on the southern Fleurieu. That has been put under the pump by these foolish and nonsensical people running around creating chaos and trying to trim away a little more of country people's way of life, pleasure, enjoyment and fundraising. Indeed, the service clubs in the Yankalilla area have lost considerable revenue in the last couple of years as a result of these events not taking place in the manner that they have in the past.

I have spoken to Mr Michael Fogden, who is heavily involved in that area and who, in the past, has been one of the key people. They are greatly disappointed, as both the member for Frome and the member for Stuart have said, in these idiotic bureaucrats who really do not understand the way things really are and who are probably flat out looking after their pet cat, let alone knowing how to look after sheep, cattle, horses or anything else. They have no idea. They read a book and they think, 'Well, that happens.' They assume that the brain of an animal is the same as the brain of human. It could probably be related to the WorkCover case or to members opposite.

However, the fact is that there are a number of people in this chamber who have had a long career in farming, and who have a great knowledge of raising livestock. You look after your stock; you do not want to hurt your stock. You look after your stock, you feed it, and in no way do you want to be cruel to it at any time. To my way of thinking, these silly, nonsensical regulations that are being put forward should be thrown out the back door; they should not be allowed.

I have a great deal of respect for the Hon. Graham Gunn. When you have had nearly four decades in this place, you do know a bit about the way it operates, and you know a bit about foolish people in the bureaucracy who single-mindedly dwell on an issue but do not have any real understanding of the wider world.

In concluding my remarks I have absolutely no hesitation in saying that I think that members opposite ought to stand on their dig, much the same as they have in the last 24 hours on the WorkCover issue, and take their leadership to task over these regulations. Attempts have been made to introduce these very foolish and stupid regulations and I think they should be consigned to history where, possibly, a few members opposite will go after this morning's showdown.

Mr VENNING (Schubert) (11:16): I thank the member for Goyder for allowing me to speak. I support the member for Stuart very strongly. Many members ask the question, 'How can the member for Stuart be here for so long in such a marginal electorate?' The answer is that the member for Stuart takes on issues like this for the little people. That is one of the chief reasons he has been here for so long with a totally unbroken record in a marginal seat. Let that be a lesson to all of us in this place as to what good advocacy is all about.

This issue is a prime example, because I had the Marrabel rodeo in my electorate and I saw what was going on there when I was a member. I received a phone call from a good friend. I will not name the person, but he is from a well known Marrabel family. He was a public officer with the Marrabel rodeo and action was taken against him personally—personally, because he was a public officer for the Marrabel rodeo—in relation to the actions of the animal liberationists and the shocking accusations that they were making about the way the animals were being treated, etc.

I took up the cudgel but, since then, of course, it has become worse, and I think it is very timely that the member for Stuart has moved this motion here today. The Animal Welfare League is infiltrating so many things that we do in country South Australia; not just in relation to rodeos but we are also seeing it with the poultry industry, we have seen it with the pig industry, and now we are seeing it with mulesing. These people are so bad, so insensitive, that they do not care what effect their actions have on our international reputation overseas. Because we have mulesing of sheep, we now have overseas countries saying to us, 'We won't buy Australian meat.'

I invite anybody to come with me—you will not find it on my property—and I will find you a fly-blown sheep and I will show you what pain and inhumanity is all about. Australian sheep have been bred to what we see today—a very fine animal—and particularly if they have a lot of wool on them, sheep do become fly struck. It is a shocking thing, sheep with flies, and I have experienced it in the past. Mulesing is not a pleasant thing, but we have come a long way with that; and it is much better. As with this issue, for the anti-mulesing lobby to come out and dogmatically take this stand, I think it is just ridiculous. As I say, it is causing great damage to our international reputation.

As the member for Stuart capably said in relation to our rodeos—and I have been to quite a few in my time—it is great to see the volunteers, the community people, putting in the hours that they do to raise money for their community and for their local charities. It represents a lot of money to places like Marrabel because there is not much else there. Apart from the hotel on the opposite corner, there is little else in Marrabel. This is the big day of the year for Marrabel, and if you take that away there is not much left at all.

The people who are handling this stock, particularly in the chutes, are experts in stock handling. They do it all the time; they know how to handle the stock. The equipment they use is state of the art. The chutes are not the old wooden, clapped out things we used to use years ago; they are modern and as good as we can manufacture.

Much of the stock involved today is professionally used stock. They do the rodeo circuits and the people concerned know that these animals are instinctive. They know how to handle these situations, and they know how to put on a good show for the spectators, and they usually are good shows. Many horses perform because they know it brings a reaction, because horses have brains. A lot of the stock is very used to the circuit and it is treated as an everyday thing. I think it is very appropriate that the member for Stuart has moved this motion here today, and I hope that members will support it.

Nobody condones animal cruelty being carried out just for the sake of being cruel. I love animals. Our dog is very precious to me, because I can get out of this place, go for a walk and take the dog with me. We love our animals, and we do not want to be cruel to them. In this instance, I do not believe that the rodeo movement is cruel to animals. Yes, occasionally you might get an instance, as you would in any activity involving animals, but I certainly do not believe that all this excitement and overreaction is warranted. I certainly support the member for Stuart, and congratulate him on moving this motion. I say to members that the passion of the member for Stuart is the reason he is still here after nearly 40 years. It is about time a few members here emulated him. I commend the member for Stuart's motion.

Mr GRIFFITHS (Goyder) (11:21): It is my pleasure to support the motion of the member for Stuart. There are a lot of things in this world that I do not know much about, and I do not necessarily know a lot about rodeos either, but I do know about the people who run the Carrieton Rodeo. I had the privilege of living in Orroroo—which is only about 45 kilometres away from Carrieton—from 1993 to 1999. It was obvious to me that it was the rodeo that kept that community together, because it gave them an opportunity to actually raise some money, allowing their shops to be open and to make sure they had a pool for the community to use. The money went into the hall and into township beautification programs that allowed Carrieton to do exceptionally well in the KESAB Tidy Town Awards. They were perpetually in the top 10 for the state, which was a wonderful thing for the local community.

Importantly, on that one weekend every year between Christmas and New Year when Carrieton held the rodeo, they had people there who actually respected animals, because these people work with animals all the time. There are big properties up that way and there is a lot of cattle and sheep. People respect the fact that they must have animals there to derive an income. You cannot crop in that area; it is pastoral country. These people knew what they were talking about.

Carrieton is a small community of about 50 people who live in the town; that is how it was when I lived there. The wider region comprised only about 300 people, but everybody was involved in the rodeo. Quite simply, on that weekend, everyone worked very hard to make sure that it was a success. Thousands of people from across the state turned up to enjoy the rodeo and what it offered. All 50 people who lived in the town, and the 300 people who lived in the surrounding region, were there, working from dawn until dusk to ensure that the people visiting their community were entertained.

It is quite probable that the people who framed these regulations actually had good intentions. I have a positive view and assume that people develop legislation on the basis that they want to improve things. The member for Stuart has quite correctly identified the fact that, if we support this regulation, it will make it very difficult for community groups who receive support and derive income opportunities from rodeos; those people will be stifled. So, I think that this house should learn from the message that the member for Stuart is giving us. If the Hon. Graham Gunn tells me that, after 37 years in parliament, what his community needs is for this regulation to be disallowed, it is good enough for me. I think the motion should be supported.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (11:23): I rise to support the member for Stuart's motion. People need to realise that there are many thousands of people who handle stock in a professional way, whether they are involved in the rodeo industry or the stock-handling industry. There are hundreds of thousands of people across the world who have to load or shift stock, and sometimes the stock is stubborn. Anyone here who has loaded six year old broken-mouthed ewes would know what it is like to put 600 of them on a B-double on a hot day; as the honourable member suggests, sometimes they need a little coercion. Of course you are not going to hurt your stock; you are probably sending them off to market to be sold, so there is no way you would wish to damage the animals that you have looked after for up to six years. There is no sense in coming out with ridiculous regulations that ban the use of some devices.

I attended the Calgary Stampede 25 years ago and it is a fantastic event. They were using D9 bulldozers to pull the stage out into the arena. Millions of people have attended this event over the years, as the honourable member indicated. I suggest that people need to get out of their offices and go out into the big, wide world and have a look at what is going on.

The mulesing of sheep has been brought up. From my many years of farming and treading the boards shearing, I can tell you what full-blown flystrike in a sheep is like—and it is not very nice. You only get the same amount of money to shear the wool off when you are just chaffing through maggots for four minutes to get the fleece off. It is not very nice at all, but it is far worse for the sheep that is getting eaten alive. I ask the people from PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) if they have ever had a good look at what happens to stock which are not treated in a husband-like way, because they get eaten alive and go off to a paddock to die a very slow and painful death.

Another issue that the member for Schubert touched on was the chicken industry. My information is that caged birds have a much lower mortality rate than barn hens have. People need to have a look at the facts and see what is going on as far as the handling of stock and running of live animals is concerned. I commend the motion.

Debate adjourned on motion of Mrs Geraghty.