UPDATE at the bottom 29/6/11
Caught part of this interview driving around work today.
Its devastating.
Nice place, shame if anything were to happen to it.... Guv'ner
Heres the only bit of transcript up now.
The live cattle export ban to Indonesia is the last straw for one of the Territory’s well known cattle families.Bullo River Station, located 800 kilometres south west of Darwin, has been put on the market.The 160,000-hectare property is well known as the home of the late author and cattle queen Sara Henderson.But her daughter Marlee Ranacher says with no income since late last year, the business is no longer viable.”It was a progression of things that led to it.”Last year there was a weight and class restriction set by the Indonesia Government… following a very very long record Wet season.”Then just as we were about to send some cattle off, with 24 hours notice, the entire industry was shut down.”I mean, most people get more notice when they lose a job, don’t they?”How exactly are we going to buy the diesel fuel that pumps water for the cattle?”Where do they go? Who feeds them? It’s really really hard.”
Heres a link to the interview.
http://blogs.abc.net.au/files/marlee-ranacher.mp3
She pins the blame squarely on Julia Gillard, and makes a couple of extremely interesting points.
1: The ban is hitting at the critical time of the year for northern producers. Unless stock leave for feedlots now they will be trapped by the wet season. So even if Julia announces a “solution” in a months time there will be no way of shipping them off.
2: The ABC has colluded with animal rights groups to time this quite deliberately. She makes the claim the ABC has been sitting on the footage since January. I will send a query to 4 corners on this but dont expect an answer.
3: The land will be overstocked massively soon. There will be 2 seasons worth of cattle on the same land.
4: The excess cattle are unsaleable due to the 350kg weight limit on cattle. What will happen?
5: A whole seasons cattle will have to be shot.
I can’t emphasise enough listen to this interview, if you are strapped for time just listen to the last 1/2.
Its heartbreaking, Gillard and her green/4 corners mates should be pilloried for this, the deliberate destruction of a whole industry. Thousands out of work directly, and many, many more businesses ruined, truckies, helicopter musterers, feed lot owners. All ruined. Once that infrastructure is gone it will take decades to get back…. or Julia could declare it a national park… Just for Bob.
If you dont choke up hearing her say “we have to shoot them”… well you must be a greenie.
UPDATE: Bob Brown has announced his paries plans to completely stop ALL live exports.
From His speech to the national press club:
- Rachel Siewert’s Live Animal Export (Slaughter) Prohibition Bill would stop the export of live animals for slaughter now – not in three years as in the Xenophon-Wilkie bill. Export of live animals too often ends up in cruelty and it also ships Australian jobs and profits off-shore;
The Tizona Group 
June 28, 2011, 8:37 pm at 8:37 pm
Heres the complaint Ive sent off. Feel free to add your own
During an ABC radio interview (http://blogs.abc.net.au/files/marlee-ranacher.mp3)
an allegation was made that 4 Corners had colluded with animal rights activists with regards to the timing of the release of the Indonesian slaughterhouse story.
The specific allegation was “The ABC has had this footage since January”
Is this allegation factually based?
Is it a coincidence that the show was scheduled just as cattle were due to be “run off” northern stations to feedlots?
If the 4 corners team did agree to show this footage at an activist specified date shouldn’t some note of this been made during the broadcast?
June 28, 2011, 8:52 pm at 8:52 pm
What’s the price per kilogram for Indonesians? I’ve been told that most of the consumers can’t afford fridges over there and hang meat.
June 28, 2011, 9:56 pm at 9:56 pm
Onepoint, i don’t know the cost/kg, but a lot of southern asia doesn’t have refidgeration so any meat bought is processed close to sale so it doesn’t spoil, or get fly blown.
June 28, 2011, 10:16 pm at 10:16 pm
The cost is much less, because the average wage in Indonesia is a tiny fraction of what it is here. A large proportion of the high price we pay for packaged meat here is the high wages (and conditions – think paid sick leave, paid smokos, paid holidays, paid workers comp, paid parental leave, stop-works, etc) of our unionised abattoir workers.
The average dole-bludger in Australia “earns” far more than the average yearly income in Indonesia. You can’t really compare end “cost” for something like a kilo of meat without taking into account comparative wages and average yearly incomes.
June 28, 2011, 9:02 pm at 9:02 pm
Hi,
Fantastic post, you really don’t realize what is involved until you really go into it all. This stupid Government obviously has not thought this through at all, obviously no consultation with anybody associated with this industry, another Huge stuff up to add to all the others, and every stuff up ends up hurting a lot of people, and in this case animals as well.
June 28, 2011, 9:15 pm at 9:15 pm
Heard a young man talking about this on Sunday, he had been to a meeting where one of the people who was also attending was related to a farmer in the NT who said this affair had just about sounded the death knell to these farmers, they were counting on this season to keep afloat.
Some of them are so depressed that their families are worried about them.
One of the points that was made, “does Julia Gillard know what diplomats are for”? Another point, “Why didn’t the foreign Minister [Rudd] head straight up there for a look see, before they made that decision?” He still has not been there, in fact he is elsewhere, and said he will go in two weeks time, looks like he tells Julia Gillard what he is doing, not the other way around.
My question is, why did the back benchers panic?
June 28, 2011, 9:31 pm at 9:31 pm
Incompetent individuals tend to all-rounders, and consistent.
Cheers
June 28, 2011, 11:53 pm at 11:53 pm
The only way this makes any sense at all is one of two ways.
1: The Gillard Govt is run by backroom pollsters who have no real world experience. i.e. this will only hurt those nasty Indos
2: The Gillard Govt is run by backroom pollsters who will say and do anything to get reelected by sucking the arse of every leftist whim they can imagine.
I rekon its a bit of both.
June 29, 2011, 8:36 am at 8:36 am
Mike of NQ replied to thefrollickingmole
Wed 29 Jun 11 (08:30am)
I agree, you must listen to this. I live in North Queensland and it is worse than portrayed in the media. These cattle will soon be too heavy to ship overseas (>350kg). With double the cattle on the land there will very soon be nothing to eat on a number of properties. The young cattle will be robbed of grass, the heavier cattle will eat more.
It is expected that up to 500,000 cattle will have to be shot but another 100,000 will mostly likely starve to death, not now, but in the future as graziers will walk off the land with no money or income. With diminishing grass, environmental degredation will be like nothing Australia has ever experienced before. Abottoirs are few and far between and quotos are filling fast.
Cattle prices are dropping at 10c a kg per week and this is expected to accelerate. I know of 35 road train drivers that have already lost their jobs. A recent transportation of cattle from a Northern Territory property to the Inverell abottoir resulted in 5 head turning up dead (30 hours in a truck with no water). Good one Julia – you are on a winner.
June 29, 2011, 12:48 pm at 12:48 pm
If you wanted to destroy the industry you couldnt plan it better. Normaly I prefer to blame incompitence rather than malice.
Not in this case, I think it is quite deliberate.
June 29, 2011, 1:44 pm at 1:44 pm
After reading and listening have to agree with you thefrollingmole [can I just call you mole?] It has all the appearances of being deliberate, and that 24 hours that the change took place may have more meaning then we have been told.
As spot said she should always be known now as the”wrecker” of Australian Industry, with the help of the Greens.
June 29, 2011, 2:39 pm at 2:39 pm
Just mole is fine, a lot easier as well….
June 29, 2011, 4:45 pm at 4:45 pm
That’s heart-breaking stuff.
Why don’t they transport that 500,000-odd cattle down to Parliament House? Plenty of nice grass there.
BTW, Merilyn, you could always use my personal favourite, “mole-ster”… but don’t forget the hyphen!
June 29, 2011, 10:17 am at 10:17 am
I listened to that interview last night and was so angry.
If Julia’s favourite epithet “WRECKER” belongs to anyone, it belongs to her and her bastard of a Labor-Green-Ind government.
June 29, 2011, 4:22 pm at 4:22 pm
[…] Mole: “Is this the radio that will cost Gillard government?” […]
June 29, 2011, 4:41 pm at 4:41 pm
What a disgrace. I wasn’t alive back then, but surely this government is light years “ahead” of Whitlam’s in being the absolute worst thing ever foisted upon this nation. The only possible silver lining to this cyclone of a government is that if it keeps going to the next election in November 2013 (how???), it could well kill off the Labor brand if not forever, for a generation or so.
God help us if the Greens ever get power in their own right.
June 29, 2011, 5:57 pm at 5:57 pm
Tim Blair hasput up a very good radio report on his blog from Ray Hadley. Have a listen. It would seem that the Indonesians found out about the ban via the media, not from the Australian PM.
June 29, 2011, 6:31 pm at 6:31 pm
I know a few Aussie cattle farmers. Would you like me to ask some questions?
June 29, 2011, 7:22 pm at 7:22 pm
Definately, I have an idea to wreck Julia if she visits a country area, but it needs about 2 farmers and a truck full of wild cattle..
Any info you get on how many blokes they have to lay off/contractors out of work wtc is good as well.
Merylin, I hope thtas not right… Jesus, how pissed off will the Indos be?
June 29, 2011, 9:21 pm at 9:21 pm
Mole, I’ve got station rounds to do tomorrow. I’ll talk to some of ’em.
But I can tell you right now, there are two I’m bloody worried about.
June 29, 2011, 9:30 pm at 9:30 pm
WS. That serious?
June 30, 2011, 9:33 pm at 9:33 pm
Hi FM,
A very well politician has agreed to talk to me about the situation and his perspective on live exports. Would you like to address any other questions? That goes for all the readers here. Secondly, I’m hoping others will want to chat with me. I will conduct the discussion when he’s available but have confirmation that he’d like to talk to me
June 30, 2011, 9:53 pm at 9:53 pm
Sounds great. Ask him what he thinks of a cattle drive down to the lawns of Parliament House. Not much else we can do with that season’s cattle.
June 30, 2011, 10:00 pm at 10:00 pm
LOL The grass is green in Canberra and I’m confident the cattle will mow the lawns nicely down there.
June 30, 2011, 10:02 pm at 10:02 pm
I really mean he’s well known in Politics. I’ll try to make a little video interview or something. Wait and see.
June 30, 2011, 9:33 pm at 9:33 pm
Hi FM,
A very well politician has agreed to talk to me about the situation and his perspective on live exports. Would you like to address any other questions? That goes for all the readers here.
June 30, 2011, 9:38 pm at 9:38 pm
oops, well known. Sorry, it’s late.
June 30, 2011, 9:49 pm at 9:49 pm
Maybe a question on how overstocking will be handled? The country up there will be badly damaged if they leave large numbers there.
How about a suggestion of something as simple as Australia directly paying slaughtermen in Indonesia? For as little as $500 a week Australian we could transform the job of slaughterman from scum work to a high paid artisan type occupation, with the threat of losing the position dreaded by those lucy enough to get it. A cheap and highly effective subsidy.
And can he ask the question as to wether the 4 corners programme held back this report until it caused maximum disruption?
June 30, 2011, 9:51 pm at 9:51 pm
Ok, I think you’ll know who it is, they’re in the House of Reps
June 30, 2011, 9:51 pm at 9:51 pm
I’m trying for the opposition too.
June 30, 2011, 11:20 pm at 11:20 pm
If he can get it, an idea of the numbers of Aboriginal run enterprises that will be affected, stations and mustering operations. A raw number or % of Aboriginal employment supplied by the cattle trade might be good as well.
A question on wether this is a land grab by the greens. After all if the stations end up in government hands they are likely to become parks or similar useless things.
Is there a fund for a cattle drive to Canberra, Ill pitch in $1000 for fuel as long as they dump a pile of beasts at lake burley griffin (and I mean wild balls on scrub cattle)
June 30, 2011, 9:55 pm at 9:55 pm
I’m serious, A. overstocking K. b. 4 corners K. Do you want unemployment stats from the ripple effect? Anything else. He’s well known. I’m sure others will want to respond as well.
June 30, 2011, 10:14 pm at 10:14 pm
Where does he/she see this after the wet season rolls in, the roads are closed again, we still have all those extra cattle, farmers are bankrupt, and massive environmental degradation has occurred.
What if Indonesia sources it’s meat from elsewhere – say South America – and we thus potentially have foot-and-mouth disease on our doorstep?
Please cite specific laws that render what the government did is in fact legal.
And… where’s Kevin?
Also, have them listen to this first if you can.
[audio src="http://blogs.abc.net.au/files/marlee-ranacher.mp3" /]
June 30, 2011, 11:32 pm at 11:32 pm
Mole, have you read Miranda Devine’s column on this? Definitely do – it might be worth adding in an update.
The whole thing’s worth a read, but how about especially this question she poses at the end:
Hmmm….