"This is an industry with an operating model built on animal suffering" [Sussan Ley, 21 May 2018]
Recently
welcomed back into the Coalition ministerial fold after being forced to resign
as health minister due to her expense scandal, Assistant Minister for
Regional Development and Territories & Liberal MP for Farrer
Susan Ley, placed her lack of moral
compass on full display this week when she abandoned her commitment to limit the
cruel trade in live sheep.
Compare her present actions with her description three months earlier of the live sheep trade which she then condemned in no uncertain terms.
Compare her present actions with her description three months earlier of the live sheep trade which she then condemned in no uncertain terms.
The
Sydney Morning Herald,
10 September 2018:
They threatened to cross
the floor to stop the trade they felt was so heinous. But when it came to a
vote on Monday, Liberal MPs Sussan Ley and Sarah Henderson staged a change of
heart and used their deciding votes to prevent a debate on a ban on the live
animal export trade.
As backbenchers the pair
led a government backlash against the live export trade after horrific footage
showing the deaths of thousands of sheep en route to the Middle East last year
emerged. They even proposed their own bill to stop the trade.
That was within grasp on
Monday, when a private member's bill sponsored by the Greens and crossbenchers
to stop the trade passed the Senate 31 votes to 28.
Just two votes were
required to approve it in the House of Representatives but Ms Ley and Ms
Henderson, who were recently elevated to the outer ministry in Scott Morrison's
reshuffle, voted against moves to bring it on for debate.
To cross the floor, they
would have needed to quit their ministerial positions.
The pair then also
rejected Labor attempts to bring on a debate in the House on their own bill.
Their two votes made the difference with the bill going down 70-72.
Labor's agriculture
spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon said the pair had put their political interests ahead
of animal welfare.
“Sussan Ley and Sarah
Henderson sponsored a bill to phase-out the live sheep export trade and made
passionate speeches in support of their proposal," Mr Fitzgibbon said.
"But today they put
their own political careers ahead of their policy convictions.
"Given the 72-70
result, their votes were the difference."
Both bills now disappear into history and the issue of cruelty to exported livestock remains unresolved.
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