Anthony Albanese has been accused of “kicking agriculture in the guts” as farmers prepare to descend on parliament house to protest Labor’s live sheep export ban.
The Prime Minister this week insisted the ban, which has sparked outrage from the farming industry but was welcomed by animal rights groups, would go ahead and would not be revisited.
The Export Control Amendment Bill 2024, presented to the public in May this year and passed overwhelmingly by the House and Senate, will phase out the live export of sheep over four years by May 1, 2028 and offer affected farmers a $107 million “transition package”.
Desperate farmers are now “having to make business decisions about their merino flock”, with backlogged abattoirs unable to process the animals, according to WA livestock truckie Ben Sutherland, vice president of the Livestock and Rural Transport Association of Western Australia and key spokesperson of the Keep the Sheep campaign.
“The merino job is in big trouble, they’re taking flock reductions here … [the financial impact] has been absolutely massive,” he said.
“They’ve been taking a hit for the last month, especially with lamb prices, mutton prices at some of their all-time lows. It’s really hard to get rid of sheep through abattoirs. Some people are overstocked by 10 to 15 per cent still and they’re needing to reduce sheep numbers. Things are not looking great.”
Nationals leader David Littleproud said in July, after the ban was passed by parliament, that there were already anecdotes of farmers shooting their sheep, which they believe will be rendered “worthless” by the bill.
“That’s at the feet of Anthony Albanese, RSPCA and Animals Australia – dead sheep in paddocks – from farmers who are desperate and can’t afford to [process them locally],” he said.
Mr Sutherland said the farming community was “disheartened” by the decision, which was already having ripple effects through the WA industry after a dry start to the year.
“As a transporter, 30 per cent of our annual bottom line is starting to happen now,” he said.
“At the moment I’d say we’re in the tightest margins we’ve ever seen. We’re only at 2 to 3 per cent, that’s likely to go to 1.2 to 2 per cent. It’s not good, especially with rising fuel prices, road user charges, insurance, it’s really looking a lot like it’s anti-agriculture.”
Mr Sutherland said in all his years “I’ve never seen people so disenchanted with the federal government”.
“There’s no competence in them at all,” he said. “Everywhere you turn they’re kicking agriculture in the guts, kicking us in the teeth.”
He accused Labor of “bowing down to animal activists” and endangering the food supply chain.
“I think it’s a combination of both ideology and incompetence,” he said.
“They never consulted the industry, they have not spoken to people in the supply chain and got our perspective.”
The National Farmers Federation has called on farmers and supporters to join a rally outside parliament house in Canberra on Tuesday, September 10, to oppose what it calls “anti-farming agendas” of the federal government.
The rally was initially organised by the Keep the Sheep campaign but has been broadened to highlight a range of other concerns, including new taxes, water buybacks and energy infrastructure.
“We’re seeing a growing number of decisions being driven by anti-farming activism, not evidence,” NFF president David Jochinke said in a statement.
“We’re being drowned out by the noisy minority who want to shut us down.”
A recent survey by the NFF found fewer than one in 10 farmers say the federal government was listening to their concerns or had a positive plan for their future.
“Australian farmers are the best in the world,” Mr Jochinke said.
“We consistently deliver the highest quality produce for Aussie families. We want policymakers to work with us to grow more in Australia. Too often it feels like they’re just working with our detractors. The common thread in every issue we’re facing is that they’re all driven by niche interest groups who don’t understand or support Aussie farmers.”
Mr Jochinke said a rally was an “unusual step” for the peak body “but we hope it will send powerful message to decision-makers ahead of the next election that these decisions need to stop”.
“We just want a return to common sense,” he said.
“We want policies informed by farmers’ lived experience and designed to grow the industry, not diminish it to appease activist agendas. Whether you’re a farmer or not, I encourage you to join us to celebrate the positive story of Australian agriculture in the heart of Canberra.”
Mr Littleproud said on Friday that the Nationals “100 per cent” supported the rally.
“This Labor government has decimated our farming and agriculture industry,” he said in a statement.
“It has been over 40 years since farmers last felt so aggrieved to protest against a government. It’s easy to understand why our farmers are fed up, after being constantly attacked by Labor and its anti-farming policies, from water buybacks to reckless renewables and its senseless phase-out of our live sheep export trade.”
Mr Littleproud said the Nationals were demanding 10 key changes by Labor, including reinstating the live sheep export trade, fixing the PALM scheme “mess” and stopping the “truckie tax and vehicle efficiency standard”.
“These 10 key areas are crucial to farming, agriculture and regional Australia,” he said. “The Nationals will not stop fighting until common sense prevails and our farmers get a fair go.”
Liberal Senator Michaelia Cash claimed the Prime Minister had “sold out WA farmers by banning the live export of sheep — destroying an entire industry in the process”.
“More than 3000 Australians work in this industry,” Ms Cash said on X last week. “They face losing their jobs, and families under financial stress will have to leave country towns.”
The Prime Minister visited Perth this week to introduce Trish Cook as Labor’s candidate for the new electorate of Bullwinkel, home to a number of regional communities affected by the live export ban.
Asked whether he had met with any industry representatives to discuss the impact of the ban during his visit, Mr Albanese said he had “met with industry reps in Canberra, and I’ve also met families in Kalgoorlie when I was there”.
“This an industry that’s worth $80 million [in] exports a year,” he said.
“The money that we have on the table is at least $107 million for adjustment. We want communities to be looked after. I think that this is an industry, if you compare $80 million for live exports with $4 billion which is what the sheep meat export industry is worth, I think that indicates where the industry needs to go. We want to make sure that people are looked after and we want to work with industry on that.”
Mr Albanese insisted Labor’s focus was on job creation.
“And that’s why, in transitioning away from the live sheep meat export trade, towards the sheep meat export trade, we can create more jobs,” he said.
“One of the things about when you process, just like value adding a future made in Australia across the board, I’m for value adding in Australia whenever you can. And that’s how you create more jobs, not less jobs. The big trade in the sheep industry in Australia is for sheep meat export.”
The Prime Minister acknowledged “adjustments are hard, which is why we have that support available, and why we are engaging”.
“But to be clear, the legislation was passed overwhelmingly through the House of Representatives and through the Senate,” he said. “This is a decision that I believe has the overwhelming support of the Australian population.”
Mia Davies, the Nationals candidate for Bullwinkel, told The West Australian the Prime Minister’s comments were “flippant”.
“The Prime Minister is flippant, and it’s a disgrace when it comes to talking about this industry [that] directly supports 3000 people’s jobs,“ she said.
“He’s talking about creating new jobs. How about we keep the jobs we’ve already got?”
She added that “as far as they’re concerned, the live export industry has been shut down, and they’ve moved on to the next issue”.
“I can assure you that we in the Western Australian agricultural industry, joined by all of our state representatives next Tuesday, will make sure that the Prime Minister is very aware that this is an industry that means business,” she said.
Source: www.News.com.au
