Member for Albany Rebecca Stephens MLA calls on Prime Minister to apologise for joke about live export ban

Albany’s local member has joined the chorus of people calling on the Prime Minister to apologise for an “extremely disappointing” joke about killing the live export industry. Member for Albany Rebecca Stephens hit out against Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for his ill-advised quip about the live export industry made to a room full of farmers at an awards night last week. Ms Stephens took to social media on Thursday, demanding an apology over the “extremely disappointing” remark and making her position clear on the live export ban. “The Prime Minister’s attempt to make light of his decision to end the live sheep export industry is extremely disappointing,” she wrote. “Members of my community in Albany and the Great Southern deserve an apology and they deserve a better and fairer transition package, one that actually supports our primary producers. “This is not a time to be making jokes.” Ms Stephens was referring to a comment made by the PM at the AgriFutures Rural Women’s Awards at Parliament House on August 20 as he shared an anecdote about having dined earlier that evening with Indonesian president-elect Prabowo Subianto. “One of the things that we talked about was agriculture, the importance of that we have in this country of not just providing food security for us, but we are the envy of the world for the natural assets that we have, for the space that we have, which is why, when we had dinner — beautiful Australian beef, not the live export, we made sure it was dead,” he said. The decision to end the live sheep export trade by May 1, 2028, and a $107 million transition package for the affected industry, has been a hotly contested issue since its announcement in May. Ms Stephens also labelled the Federal Government’s decision to end the live sheep trade as “unnecessary and wrong” and said the proposed transition was “not enough.” Liberal candidate Thomas Brough also made a stand against the ban, starting a 10-week e-petition to note community support for farmers and conduct a public inquiry into the impact the ban was already having on people, and on the WA economy more broadly. “Agriculture, forestry and fishery has more registered businesses than any other industry in Albany, and is by far the largest exporter of products or services from our scenic south coast city to elsewhere,” he said. “That’s why farmers and non-farmers alike — from Wellstead in the east to Youngs Siding in the west, from Sandpatch in the south to the Stirlings in the north — are intensely interested in the live exports issue. “What Federal Labor does not understand is that in banning live sheep exports, it is curtailing economic development across all economic sectors of Albany, Plantagenet, the wider Great Southern and beyond through the Wheatbelt.”