Am I missing something or does this Federal Labor government have a problem with the Middle East?
We have never been given a coherent reason for banning live sheep exports other than, apparently, it’s something to do with losing our social licence.
When we asked the Federal Minister for Agriculture to define how he measures ‘social licence’ so that we can know when cattle, or eggs or pork or anything else, is close to having its licence ripped from under them, we got no reply.
This makes me suspect it’s something else, something far more political that is driving the Federal government’s decision-making.
The government’s decision to reject extra Qatar Airways flights into Australia gives us a hint of what they are thinking.
So far, we have been given eight reasons by Catherine King, the Minister for Transport, for coming to her decision to reject Qatar’s request.
Explanation after explanation has been rolled out from the Doha airport incident involving the Australian women dragged off a plane, reducing emissions, national interest, protect local jobs, COVID recovery, to Qantas needing to afford to buy new planes. The one consistent line is the Government is claiming it was not influenced by any lobbying efforts from Qantas.
Similar to live exports, the Government can give no coherent reason as to what makes up this social licence, which makes me suspicious it has been influenced by the animal activist lobby.
The common denominator between the Qatar Airlines and live exports decision is that both centre around the Middle East, a region that this government seems to have a problem with.
I wonder if it’s got to do with the fact that this part of the world has not embraced the progressive woke western value system? Or maybe it is the fact that they are the spiritual home of the fossil fuel industry? Whatever it is, there is something about the Middle East that does not sit well with the Federal Labor Party.
One wonders if they would treat the Chinese government with the same contempt and rule out the sale of live cattle or additional flights from China Southern Airlines – I think not.
Related story: Flying thoughts on air freight.
