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Cattle Council Report from Ross Peatling
At time of writing much of southern Australia and southern & central Queensland remains in drought. Much of the Territory received good rain in January but follow up rain in February & March was well below average in most areas. I am told that south of Alice Springs is still in a very bad way.
Season
Climate change and the water debate is on the radar for Cattle Council and it is essential that we have a position on issues such as water and the impact that the cattle industry has on the environment. As everyone is aware Senator Heffernan will visit northern Australia in the very near future as the government focus on the more reliable rainfall and huge volumes of water in our northern rivers. One can only wonder how the northern water can be diverted to the southern catchments to assist the Murray/Darling system.
NLIS / BSE
The audit of the NLIS data base completed by PricewaterhouseCoopers in December 2006 confirmed that Australia has a national tracing system that is effective and of great importance to the industry
The report also stated that documentation relating to livestock disease & contamination incidents in the 1990’s indicates that Australia would have lost access to a number of significant international markets had it not implemented a more effective livestock tracing system. BSE in Canada and the US in 2003 led to a ban on exports from those countries in many markets which increased Australia’s market share from 38% to 70% in Asian markets.
I suppose that the key points are:
- The review shows the system is effective
- An ongoing focus on compliance marks the way forward for the system from this point.
As we export 65% of our beef production it is important that we have a traceback system that is working well
Future funding & ownership of the NLIS is presently under consideration. It could be either MLA, the Federal government.
Animal Health Australia or Ausmeat
With regard to a BSE detection in Australia the federal government is still considering the “beef off the shelves” issue
Late in 2006 Cattle Council passed the resolution that $1000.00 per head be paid to the owners of any cattle that were imported to Australia from any country that had a history of BSE. It is known where these cattle are in the country and any movements are recorded. Having these cattle killed and tested for BSE would be an enormous step forward for the industry. The issue of removing specified risk material is currently being debated by industry & government through Safemeat
A detection of BSE in Australia would be disastrous but having said that the chance of this occurring is very remote.
TB
The TFAP 2 program wound up in December 2006 and any future TB incidents will be managed by an Animal Health committee with consultation with Cattle Council.
John Stewart & myself remain on the property program group.
The last TB case in cattle was in 1999 and buffalo in 2002.
A final report of the TB program, including financials, will be available in March 2007.
General
The Five Nations Beef conference was hosted by Australia in October 2006 and I am told the visit went very well & the international visitors were most impressed
They visited central NSW. We tried to get them to the Territory but the cost was too great.
Bill Bray, Mike Norton and David Inall visited Korea and Indonesia in December 2006. It is good to see CCA spending considerable time with the live cattle trade and also working on important markets such as Korea. A visit to Russia is also on the drawing board.
The US is still battling to get back into the Korean & Jap markets but market access will be slow. Food safety remains high on the agenda for both these markets and the tactics presently being used by the US don’t endear them to some of their customers. At present the US is only exporting about 3% of its product. It is critical that we retain as much market share as possible in the north Asian markets.
A couple of small points in closing
The Cattle Council is working with RSPCA on animal well being issues and I believe that PETA is to open an office in Australia in the near future. It was interesting to see on a bumper sticker while I was on holidays that PETA stands for “People Eating Tasty Animals”. We have to stay one step in front of these radical animal activist groups and animal welfare is very high on the agenda of the Council. These groups basically want us shut down so we have to remain vigilant. Long distance transport is just one area that has a huge effect on us. Everyone would be aware of the new code regarding long distance transport. 12 hours for a driver before he has to have a spell and 36 hours for stock on the trucks before they have to be unloaded and spelled. The transport industry is still in there & batting to get an extension on driving hours in remote areas.
There will also be a review of the transaction levy in 2010 & it is essential that industry put up a good case to retain the levy at $5.00. The increase, effective in 2006, has been very useful in the marketing arena.
Finally, in the last 18 months there has been a complete turnover of all staff in Cattle Council but it is pleasing to say that we now have a permanent staff of four under the guidance of David Inall and all is ticking along very nicely.
Bill Bray is in his last term as president so the NTCA should be looking at who they want to support in this position.
Ross Peatling
Cattle Council Delegate
30 March 2007
