Tracey Hayes rips PM for missing cattle compensation

The war of words between NT Cattlemen and the federal government just stepped up a notch. Read the latest.

The feud between the federal government and NT Cattlemen over the Commonwealth’s failure to pay up to a billion dollars in court-ordered compensation for the 2011 Indonesian live export ban is gaining heat.

Cattlemen and the Commonwealth have been at odds over the government’s refusal to pay the compensation and interest for the 2011 live export ban that devastated the Territory’s cattle sector and associated industries.

Former NT Cattlemen’s Association chairman David Connolly was a fierce critic of the Commonwealth’s refusal to pay the compo, using his final address in the role in Alice Springs last month to deliver a withering spray to Agriculture Minister Murray Watt.

Within days of that spray, media were leaked details from an unknown source that more than 100 Territory cattle on-board the Brahman Express bound for Indonesia had died.

The source of the leak has still not been disclosed.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese with Queensland Premier Stephen Miles at Beef Week in Rockhampton. Pic Annette Dew

Then at Beef Week in Rockhampton earlier this month, former NT Cattlemen’s Association chief executive Tracey Hayes told the Commonwealth to pay the Territory the billion it owed, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Agriculture Minister Murray Watt seated just metres away.

The Commonwealth last year offered $200m to settle, with cattlemen offering to settle for $500m and costs. The industry said the true cost of the damage from the ban was $1.2bn.

A former recipient of the Queensland Country Life Beef Achiever at Beef Week, Ms Hayes helped coordinate the class action against the Commonwealth when she headed NT Cattlemen’s Association.

Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility chair and cattleman Tracey Hayes. Picture: Shane Eecen

Speaking in Rockhampton 10 years to the day after the legal action was filed, Ms Hayes came out swinging.

With legal delays now expected at least until April next year, Ms Hayes said it appeared the Commonwealth was deliberately kicking the can down the road to wear down the industry.

“You would be forgiven for thinking this is a deliberate act to wear us down in the hope that we give up, that we concede, that we capitulate,” Ms Hayes said.

“I think not. With the unwavering support of the Australian Farmers Fighting Fund, we will stay the course and see this through to the right and just conclusion.

“We are a proud and legitimate industry with a right to go about our lawful business without having it pulled out from under our feet, with no regard for the devastating consequences.”

NT Cattlemen's Association’s Will Evans.

She said the ban was a catastrophic failure of leadership and “by anyone’s standards is a fight worth having”.

Then on radio station 6PR in Perth last week, Mr Albanese responded to a question about a vote of no-confidence in Agriculture Minister Murray Watt by claiming critics from within the National Farmers Federation were members of the Nationals Party.

“Oh, it’s not the first time that National Party members are out there complaining and arguing against the Labor Party,” the PM said.

This prompted NT Cattlemen’s Association chief executive Will Evans to issue a statement distancing the organisation from political partisanship.

“For the record, I am not a member of the National Party,” he said. “Neither is the CEO of the NFF, President of the NFF, President of the NTCA, President of AgForce, CEO of AgForce, President of the Australian Livestock Exporters Council, CEO of the Australian Livestock Exporters Council, among the majority of agricultural industry body staff and elected members within Australian Agricultural representative bodies.

“Banning an industry because they don’t vote for a particular political party appears to be at least part of the Prime Minister’s motivation to do so.”