Page 3397 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 17 September 1991
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STOCK DISEASES (AMENDMENT) BILL 1991
Debate resumed from 12 September 1991, on motion by Mr Wood:
That this Bill be agreed to in principle.
MR DUBY (5.30): This piece of legislation has been long overdue. I have lost my speaking notes, I think. I remember talking to the Director of Conservation some six months ago about what he regarded as one of the major achievements of self-government. He actually quoted the Stock Diseases (Amendment) Bill, which he knew would be coming up.
People have tended to trivialise legislation of this nature. They say that something to do with the rural industries of the ACT is clearly of no importance. The bottom line, of course, is that I doubt very much whether this piece of legislation would have seen the light of day from the Commonwealth Parliament before the turn of the century.
Rural industry is a strong part of the local economy here in the ACT. Some figures have always stuck in my mind. The ACT, about 12 months ago, if I remember correctly, had in the order of 144,000 head of sheep and something like 14,000 head of cattle within its boundaries as part of our rural industry. They are not extensive herds or flocks in comparison with the rest of the nation, but they are sufficient to have an impact within the ACT community. I think the Minister, in his presentation speech for this Bill, said that the value of rural production in the ACT is some $25m - a not insignificant amount - and it is something which many of our rural community are dependent upon.
This piece of legislation, as I said, is long overdue. It brings the ACT into line with part of a trace-back system which was brought into place through the efforts of the Commonwealth Department of Primary Industries and Energy. It has been introduced and I believe it is now in place in the surrounding districts of New South Wales. The system enables the track-back of diseased stock, from the wholesaler who takes the stock from the abattoir, back through the abattoir, and back, indeed, to the very property in question. In the past this has not been able to be done. That trace-back system is complemented by a stock tail tag register and also by the provision of government inspectors who have access to the records, not only of the producers but also of the transporters and the processors in the livestock industry.
This particular proposal, I note, is something which the previous Alliance Government would have brought into place had circumstances and time permitted. I know that there was extensive consultation with the New South Wales Government and with the ACT Rural Lessees Association.
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