ID :
192065
Thu, 06/30/2011 - 14:35
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/192065
The shortlink copeid
Ludwig sidesteps cattle farmers' concerns
SYDNEY (AAP) - June 30 - When? That's the only question about 400 farmers in Mt Isa wanted Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig to answer on Thursday.
When will the live cattle ban to Indonesia be lifted?
They didn't get the answer they wanted.
What they got was a political holding statement. Repeatedly.
"What the government has done is put in place a system ... to get the industry up and running as quickly as possible," Senator Ludwig said in response to questions, numerous times, and once to a collective guffaw from the audience.
But there was no statement of when.
Quickly isn't quick enough for farmers who are worried Indonesia and its quarter of a million inhabitants will just look to other suppliers for its tucker.
It has been four weeks since the federal government banned live cattle exports to Indonesia in response to a Four Corners episode on ABC Television in early June detailing cruel abuse suffered by Australian cattle in 12 Indonesian abattoirs.
The government's initial response was to ban trade to those 12 abattoirs, a position no one at the Mt Isa civic centre seemed to have a problem with.
But a week later, the Australian cattle industry was poleaxed by the news that all live exports would be banned indefinitely.
That's hard news to swallow for food producers, who export 60 per cent of their goods, according to the National Farmers Federation.
Its hard news especially as regards a country like Indonesia, which represents a market of 240 million people who do not eat pork.
They want beef. Australian beef. And it's a trade route that took over 60 years to build up, Meat and Livestock Australia chair Don Heatley said.
Mr Heatley said he had handed Senator Ludwig a $9 million plan detailing the expansion of humane slaughter practice in Indonesia, including training on how to stun cattle.
Senator Ludwig reminded the audience of the federal government's $30 million assistance package to help them through the unspecified length of the trade ban.
But that's not what Lloyd Hick wanted.
Mr Hick, who runs a small cattle farm in Mt Isa, was there for one thing. A time-frame. A when.
"That was the main thing for us," Mr Hick told AAP.
"This is disastrous for us. Our whole family industry needs to be reorganised."
But the senator's stock-standard answers kept coming as the temperature in the public hall rose, at times pushing the boundaries of the civil tone that carried throughout the four-hour meeting.
"Everyone in this room should be so f**king angry with you people, just bloody slaughter you," said a farm electrical worker, who said the ban had cost him work and forced him to hang up $60,000 worth of equipment.
"What you've done here to the people in this room is bloody bulls**t.
"Where's my compo?"
The minister couldn't answer that either.
When will the live cattle ban to Indonesia be lifted?
They didn't get the answer they wanted.
What they got was a political holding statement. Repeatedly.
"What the government has done is put in place a system ... to get the industry up and running as quickly as possible," Senator Ludwig said in response to questions, numerous times, and once to a collective guffaw from the audience.
But there was no statement of when.
Quickly isn't quick enough for farmers who are worried Indonesia and its quarter of a million inhabitants will just look to other suppliers for its tucker.
It has been four weeks since the federal government banned live cattle exports to Indonesia in response to a Four Corners episode on ABC Television in early June detailing cruel abuse suffered by Australian cattle in 12 Indonesian abattoirs.
The government's initial response was to ban trade to those 12 abattoirs, a position no one at the Mt Isa civic centre seemed to have a problem with.
But a week later, the Australian cattle industry was poleaxed by the news that all live exports would be banned indefinitely.
That's hard news to swallow for food producers, who export 60 per cent of their goods, according to the National Farmers Federation.
Its hard news especially as regards a country like Indonesia, which represents a market of 240 million people who do not eat pork.
They want beef. Australian beef. And it's a trade route that took over 60 years to build up, Meat and Livestock Australia chair Don Heatley said.
Mr Heatley said he had handed Senator Ludwig a $9 million plan detailing the expansion of humane slaughter practice in Indonesia, including training on how to stun cattle.
Senator Ludwig reminded the audience of the federal government's $30 million assistance package to help them through the unspecified length of the trade ban.
But that's not what Lloyd Hick wanted.
Mr Hick, who runs a small cattle farm in Mt Isa, was there for one thing. A time-frame. A when.
"That was the main thing for us," Mr Hick told AAP.
"This is disastrous for us. Our whole family industry needs to be reorganised."
But the senator's stock-standard answers kept coming as the temperature in the public hall rose, at times pushing the boundaries of the civil tone that carried throughout the four-hour meeting.
"Everyone in this room should be so f**king angry with you people, just bloody slaughter you," said a farm electrical worker, who said the ban had cost him work and forced him to hang up $60,000 worth of equipment.
"What you've done here to the people in this room is bloody bulls**t.
"Where's my compo?"
The minister couldn't answer that either.
