canberra's stunning cattle misery

http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/cattle-abattoirs-live-exports-Indonesia-Labor-pd20110706-JGS53?OpenDocument&src=kgb

Canberra's stunning cattle misery

Robert Gottliebsen

Published 7:12 AM, 6 Jul 2011 Last update 10:25 AM, 6 Jul 2011


Indonesia's Minister for Agriculture, H.E. Suswono, is close to determining the fate of the Australian cattle industry. It looks like we will be paying an enormous price for the arrogance the federal government has shown towards our nearest neighbour, Indonesia. And Australia is now seen in the region as a country that carries sovereign risk.

Suswono appears set to teach Australians a lesson about respect for your neighbour that we will never forget. When I set out the danger (Cattle missteps could hurt Australia, June 27) it was still possible to avoid a catastrophe for the Australian cattle industry and the nation. Now that Suswono has dug in it will be very difficult.

And worse still for Australia, Suswono is in the right. We are in the wrong. Suswono and Indonesia were just as appalled as Australians at the killing practices that were revealed in the Four Corners program. Suswono is a good minister and we needed to work with him to solve the problem. There is little doubt it would have been fixed because it was an isolated incident.

Instead, without any consultation with Indonesia, we banned live cattle exports near the most sensitive time on the Muslim calendar, Ramadan. Suswono was justifiably very angry.

As a result, much of Indonesia now looks set not to have beef during and after Ramadan but unless there is a last minute back-down, they seem prepared to pay that price to teach Australians to respect their nation.

Suswono is too polite to declare Australians racists but that?s the tag we will get on the streets of the major capitals and in the centres that have feedlots and high-standard slaughtering facilities based on Australian cattle imports. Indonesia takes three quarters of its cattle from Australia. They thought they could trust Australians as reliable suppliers. They were wrong. When Tony Abbott becomes prime minister he will have an enormous task to repair the bad blood.

Meanwhile, the federal cabinet must have realised when they banned the cattle exports to Indonesia that it was likely that some cattle would have to be shot. But cattle shootings actually obscure a much deeper tragedy for Australia. It's likely that the vast majority of the cattle will simply not be mustered and will eventually become feral, doing damage to inland Western Australia, Northern Territory and Queensland. And it's not just the cattle stations that will suffer huge losses. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of sub-contractors who will likely see their businesses bankrupted.

The cattle industry has been a major employment area for Aboriginal communities. This will set back Aboriginal employment progress a long way.

We are now in a very weak negotiating position. Reflecting this, we have already dropped the need for stunning cattle. When Suswono thinks we have suffered enough he will give us a meaningless compromise. The cattle industry hopes that will come quickly but current signs are not good. In the meantime, Suswono is now pushing full steam ahead with making Indonesia self-sufficient in cattle production so there will be no need for cattle exports to our major market. It will take a long while to find other markets.