THE meat industry has refused a federal government demand to partly refund levies collected from cattle farmers as compensation for the suspension of live exports to Indonesia.
Yesterday, as Indonesia signalled its hopes that trade could resume within two to three weeks, Meat and Livestock Australia has rejected an ultimatum sent by the Agriculture Minister, Senator Joe Ludwig, over the weekend to either voluntarily release an initial $5 million of industry funds to compensate farmers, or be forced to do so by law.
After reportedly seeking legal advice, the Herald understands that an emergency meeting of MLA executives on Sunday night voted to reject the government's demand.
The company plans to inform the government of its decision today. In the letter sent to the MLA's chairman, Don Heatley, the minister suggests funds collected from cattle farmers in the form of levies could be used to give initial relief under the auspices of marketing and promotion.
''I would expect that in the first instance, $5 million could be made available as an initial contribution to a contingency fund for industry,'' Senator Ludwig wrote.
''Alternatively, I would propose to use my powers under section 69(3) of the AMLI Act to direct MLA to use marketing and promotion funds to manage the immediate domestic supply impacts of the suspension to trade.''
The MLA could not be contacted yesterday. However, the Cattle Council of Australia, which also receives cattle farmers' levies, has come out in support of the MLA's stance.
''[The] Cattle Council is strongly of the view that grass-fed-beef levies are best utilised on industry initiatives that are directly aimed at delivering services that facilitate a recommencement of trade as soon as possible,'' the council's acting president, Andrew Ogilvie, said.
The chairman of the Australian Beef Association, Brad Bellinger, said both industry bodies were acting out of self-interest.
''The minister should force them to release the $40 million in the levy reserve fund,'' he said. ''The money is there and meant to be used in an emergency. This is an emergency.''
Mr Bellinger said there were about 20,000 cattle held up at Port Hedland, Darwin and Townsville. Costing $8 a head to feed, the daily bill was $160,000.
After meeting a delegation from Canberra yesterday, the Indonesian Vice-Minister for Agriculture, Dr Bayu Krisnamurthi, said Australian officials assured him the live cattle trade would resume ''as soon as possible''.
''[It] looks like the cattle trade will resume in two to three weeks at the earliest,'' Dr Krisnamurthi said.
Industry sources, however, said it would likely take a few weeks longer to bed down the arrangement, which must be preceded by the development of new animal welfare standards and a survey of Indonesian feedlots and abattoirs by Australian officials and an independent vet.
Yesterday the RSPCA and Animals Australia denounced the decision to use the World Organisation of Animal Health standards as a benchmark for the review.
Those standards were lower than those used in Australia, the animal welfare groups said, and did not mandate the use of stun guns, nor preclude the roping of animals' legs prior to slaughter.
Email a friend