June 21, 2011

 

Australian government in live cattle export predicament

 

 

With Australian beef producers encouraging the government to remove its suspension on live export of cattle to Indonesia and animal warfare groups wanting live cattle trade to be halted completely, the Australian federal government is under immense pressure on the live cattle export problem.

 

Earlier this month, Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig announced a temporary suspension on all live cattle export to Indonesia, after a footage revealed Australian cattle were being tortured in some Indonesian abattoirs.

 

The suspension could last for up to six months pending an investigation into the supply chain to ensure that international standards are upheld.

 

As a result of the suspension, about 150,000 ready-to-export cattle have been stranded across Australia, and the move has aroused controversies, with cattle producers criticising the plan, saying that farmers are suffering greatly under the ban.

 

The beef producers industry will hold a series of meetings in Canberra of Australia this week, with members of the Northern Territory Cattlemen's Association joining other graziers to demand action to lift the ban.

 

Northern Territory Chief Minister Paul Henderson will also be there, along with former head of the National Farmers Federation David Crombie.

 

It is reported that if the Australian ban remains in place, the Indonesian government will simply substitute Brazilian or Argentine cattle for Australian cattle.

 

"Our local producers will continue to suffer at the hands of the international commodities trade, with the added irony that Australia's moral outrage will have served little purpose because there will be no pressure to raise standards in local abattoirs," Chairperson of Indonesian Peasant Union, Henry Sragih said.

 

The opposition's agriculture spokesman, John Cobb, also said Ludwig needs to work with Indonesia to resume trade very quickly, in a move to protect the farming industry from losing money.

 

On the other hand, animal warfare groups urged the government to permanently ban live cattle export to Indonesia, with a thousand of supporters on Saturday (Jun 18) gathering across major cities of Australia to call on the federal government to completely end the export of live Australian cattle.

 

Greens, which will hold balance of power in Parliament from July this year, threw support to the animal warfare group, with the Greens Leader Bob Brown said sending Australian animals overseas for slaughter is barbaric, money driven and unnecessary.

 

Greens Member of Parliament (MP) Lee Rhiannon, who is amongst the crowd during Saturday's protest, said temporary suspension of live exports to Indonesia does not go far enough and the rally wants the industry phased out altogether.

 

He said the best way to do so is to relocate the industry to base on Australian soil, and the cattle to be slaughtered at home, which will create a brand new industry and hundreds of more jobs.

 

Federal independent Member of Parliament (MP) Andrew Wilkie also described the export as cruel and inhumane, and said more needs to be done to protect Australian animals overseas.

 

Wilkie said he will table a private bill in Parliament on Monday (Jun 13) to ban all live animal exports within three years.

 

Indonesia is the biggest buyer of Australian live cattle, accounting for about 60% of the market, and if the government continues to ban the export, it will hurt the cattle export industry, which worth US$362 million per year.

 

In a move to tackle the controversial issue, Ludwig is in Indonesia for talks on the live cattle trade.