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Indonesia's Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) penalized 32 Indonesian cattle importer and beef feedlot companies with a combined IDR 107 billion (approx. AUS 10.4 million) in fines on grounds of the practice of unfair competition. These 32 companies have been found guilty of forming a cartel with the aim of controlling local beef prices, curtailing beef imports, and curtailing the distribution of beef at the expense of the Indonesian consumer, particularly in the Greater Jakarta area.The companies vigorously deny it BUT...thats the nature of LE....prone to all the vagaries and whims of politics.
AND....then just to make matters worse, the Indonesians are going to be importing Indian beef in Ramadan. Did Australia just miss out on a meat market?
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NT News on April 15 2016 ran the story of former bankrupt and failed entrepreneur, Luke Butler, who claims he wants to buy some of the NT's most profitable cattle stations.
Mr Butler's scheme appears to offer Asian investors a way to access vast land holdings whilst avoiding the requirements of the Foreign Investment Review Board. The scheme would make him one of Australia's biggest cattle breeders and exporters according to the NT News. So what's the catch? Mr Butler was described in the book King of Stings, on Australian swindlers as "one of the great contemporary financial conmen". Who knows what this will mean for the cattle. AUSTRALIAN Livestock Exporters’ Council chief executive Alison Penfold has resigned. Ms Penfold, who has headed up the industry organisation since February 2012, will finish in the role at the end of July. Apparently, Ms Penfold has decided “to pursue other professional opportunities”. Perhaps she got sick of trying to raise the bar in a recalcitrant industry.
One wonders who is the next in line. Speaking at the livestock export industry conference in Darwin last week, World Organisation for Animal Health director general Dr Bernard Vallat apparently said Australia’s investments in improving animal welfare were welcome, and should be taken to the rest of the world. “Governments, the private sector and international organisations can work together to successfully address societal expectations for animal welfare.”
With respect Dr Vallat, they COULD, if they CHOSE work together but at the moment, even the Australian Standards for the Export of Livestock (ASEL) dont meet basic societal expectations in this country. They certainly dont meet expectations of many vets either, including many of those that work on ships....not that the government listens to veterinary advice....well what would vets know about livestock? As for slaughter, OIE (or otherwise) in distant countries....it would only meet the societal expectations in societies that have no animal welfare legislation. The primary reason for rangeland cattle farming in the Kimberley (WA) is live export. The recent verdict on the cruelty case against Nico Botha from Moola Bulla Station illustrates how the law protects cattle farmers in northern WA, allowing procedures on live export cattle that would be regarded as 'unacceptable cruelty' elsewhere in Australia.
Let no-one be in any doubt: for many live export cattle, the cruelty starts at home in Australia. VALE commends the whistleblower for his actions that resulted in this court case Australian voters dont want live export. Every poll since May 2011 has found that. Likewise VALE commissioned an independent poll in 2015 that found nothing had changed. Arguments for live export "ring hollow" but neither main party will represent the Australian people on this issue.
Maybe this will be the election that ignoring the Australian people on this issue will come at a price....for pollies, not our animals. |
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