Despite Anthony Albanese vow, live cattle exporters fear ban
From WA to Queensland, live cattle exporters fear a minority government could sink their $1bn trade, but Anthony Albanese has sought to allay their concerns.
Cattle exporters fear a minority government propped up by teals or Greens will see their $1bn trade banned, but Anthony Albanese has insisted Labor would not back such a move.
Peak groups, including the Australian Livestock Exporters’ Council, AgForce Queensland and WAFarmers, have noted with alarm statements by some teal MPs backing an extension of live sheep exports to cattle.
“We know that the non-government organisations, teals and Greens are coming after live trade cattle next,” AgForce general president Shane McCarthy told The Australian.
“I would call on the Prime Minister to make very clear before the election where Labor stands on the live cattle trade.
“They disrupted it once before and that caused a lot of heartache and destroyed businesses, without consultation or evidence backing it.”
Mr Albanese told The Australian Labor would not back any ban on live cattle exports. “We will not make any changes to the live cattle trade,” the Prime Minister said.
While the Gillard government’s 2011 ban on live cattle exports to Indonesia proved temporary, Mr McCarthy said it fuelled anxiety Labor could repeat it were it to be among demands of independents or Greens in a hung parliament.
“We don’t want to be held to ransom by three or four teals and Greens who would have never set foot in a cattle yard, and I dare say don’t even know which end to feed,” he said.
John Hassell, National Farmers Federation vice-president and WAFarmers president, said the 2028 live sheep export ban was already having a “devastating” impact and he had no doubt the teals and Greens would seek to extend it to cattle.
He was not reassured by the Prime Minister’s statements. “Albo has made it absolutely clear he will do whatever deal he has to do to stay in power,” Mr Hassell told The Australian.
“He’s already sold out the very foundations of the Labor Party – the shearing industry. While the (sheep) ban is from 2028, there’s been a dramatic impact already.”
The legislated sheep export ban meant shipping companies were not investing in upgrading ships, resulting in their exclusion from the Australian trade, with “devastating” impacts on the state’s sheep and cattle industries.
Just over three years ago, sheep were worth $200 a head, but this fell to virtually nothing, due to the ban, before recovering to $30, he said.
“We’ve gone from 11 million sheep in WA down to eight million, in 12 months,” he said. “That’s dramatic.”
Australian Livestock Exporters’ Council chief executive Mark Harvey-Sutton said the industry was “nervous”. “The teals really nailed their colours to the mast last year when all of the teals spoke in favour of the (sheep) ban, and a significant number of them said it should be extended to cattle,” Mr Harvey-Sutton told The Australian.
“The live sheep ban (which applies from May 2028) was done on an overtly political basis and for political purposes only.
“If that is the standard to … ban industries, the cattle industry would be very nervous, particularly in a circumstance when Labor is seeking to stay in power and they depend on the support of the teals or Greens.”
Goldstein MP Zoe Daniel has called for live exports to be “wound up”. North Sydney MP Kylea Tink says she “would support legislation to phase out live exports based on a realistic timeline”.
Warringah MP Zali Steggall told last year’s sheep ban debate “we should be considering the live exports of cattle as well”.
Mackellar MP Sophie Scamps has said she wants to “end the entire live export trade”.
Industry says Kooyong MP Monique Ryan and Wentworth’s Allegra Spender have “consistently voted against live animal exports”.
Curtin MP Kate Chaney initially backed Labor’s sheep export ban but then changed her mind, citing the impact on farming families and communities.
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