Mr TURNBULL (Wentworth—Prime Minister) (14:02): I thank the honourable member for his question. The government supports a live export trade that respects animal welfare and obviously respects community views on animal welfare. We are taking immediate action to ensure that animal welfare is maintained, the jobs of thousands of Australian farmers are preserved and our export markets are respected and maintained. As honourable members know, the Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources commissioned a report from Dr Michael McCarthy. That has recommended a number of changes to the export regime. In summary, on live sheep voyages to the Middle East in the coming northern summer, sheep will get 39 per cent more space and stocking densities will be reduced by up to 28 per cent. The reportable mortality level will be halved from two per cent to one per cent. Independent observers on behalf of the government will be on the vessels to make sure that these standards are maintained. The observers will be reporting daily to the regulator. The SPEAKER: The Manager of Opposition Business on a point of order? Mr Burke: Mr Speaker, given that you ruled that the only part of the question that was in order was whether or not the Prime Minister supports the private member's bill, he should be relevant to that. The SPEAKER: I have been listening very closely. Manager of Opposition Business, when he's talking about the substance of the topic that is the subject of the bill, I really can't see how he's anything other than in order. The Prime Minister is in order. Mr TURNBULL: Thank you, Mr Speaker. The government's objective is, as I said, to ensure that animal welfare is maintained, that animals are treated humanely in this transport, that the livings and viability of Australian farmers—particularly in Western Australia, where most of these shipments are derived—are respected and maintained, and that our export markets are maintained. We do not want to have a repetition of the debacle that we had under the Labor Party, where the entire live cattle export business was banned and, as a consequence, farming families across the nation were facing ruin and the price of cattle crashed, from the far north of the country all the way down to Tasmania. That's the sort of recklessness the government will not be a party to. What we have put in place—along with the minister, who is absent, as I said—is a careful and considered approach based on science, and that is why the government does not support the bill.