Rural Australia

Pokies cloud over McGaurans

2007-10-09T14:58:00.000+10:00

We're not gunning for Minister McGauran, but it's always hard to stomach when politicians who are supposed to be upholding the highest standards in representing us in this wonderful democracy, show their true colors.
While we believe Australia's producers should feel badly done by in recent times by the Nats and Libs (Undemocratic MLA elections, 'letting-in' at risk USA / Brazilian meat, NLIS & LPA costs, NZ Fireblight, increased stock levies, native vegetation laws, ...) , when you read about the personal habits/self-interest culture of some of them, you can gain an insight into why they aren't focussed on helping others as much as they should be!

The McGauran brothers last year declared $1 million of expenditure on their Victorian hotel from poker machine revenue as "community benefit" spending but only $5000 has gone to genuinely charitable causes.Click here to read the whole story

What do you think Please leave a comment below.

McGauran's interest in horse racing illustrates why he has shafted the bush!

2007-10-05T11:33:00.000+10:00

Since Peter McGauran has been in charge, our livestock have never been at at more risk of Foot and mouth disease and BSE (and Equine flu) ! This Minister has a record of going in to bat for business lobbyists interests over the need for quarantine purity. e.g. He signed an agreement to let USA beef sourced from FMD Brazil into Australia and is now wanting to let NSW horses and 'other special cases' into Victoria (currently an Equine flu free zone).
Quarantine is quarantine and whether a quarantined area is separated by a think red line or a strip of river, the line has to be drawn somewhere. And when livelihoods are at risk you'd think that at least a Minister in charge should have the greatest respect for even the thinnest quarantine line. Mr. McGuaran obviously has no respect for livestock quarantine which must respect poorly upon his regard for farmers. But then again, I suppose that shouldn't seem strange in times when an evironment Minister doesn't care for the environment either!

What do you think? Please leave a comment below.

Are Government Hand-Outs The Solution To Your Pain?

2007-09-25T15:42:00.000+10:00

There is untold pain from the worst drought in living memory. It's affecting farmers, their suppliers and consumers alike.
It's great to see the Fed Govt come-up with some more funds to help-out but so many of us have been through this before and know that while their hearts are in the right place, it doesn't really solve a lot. And I guess that's where the hard thinking has to begin.
Bob Hawke and Paul Keating deregulated the car, textile and footwear manufacturing industries and the economists are praising them for the economic boom we're now experiencing. However, the flip-side is that involved a lot of pain for the people who were working in those industries - A lot of them lost their jobs.
Just like this latest farmer aid pack, that Government came-up with pay-outs to ease their pain but they still had a lot of personal and family pain that money can't heal. (And I don't think these people were offered anything like the "..up to $150,000", stated in this farm offer! hmmm.. and the devil will be in the detail here, I bet).
With rural water running-out, the ice-caps are now past the point of no return (i.e. they can't freeze again in our lifetime), etc etc is it time to make some hard decisions? e.g. Rather than giving money to irrigators, do we have to severely ration water from water-gulping farming? i.e. Should we only allow as much water as a livestock farm can take from a flowing stream to keep stock watered? I think we have to make these hard decisions. Without putting a finer point on it, do we need to bite the bullet and prevent cotton & rice etc farming and leave such farming to those places in the World that can handle it 'naturally' while we try to work-out how to keep our stock alive without? Government money isn't going to solve the big questions, is it (?)

What do you think? (Please leave a comment below).

Are The Nats & Libs Looking After The Bush?

2007-09-17T07:51:00.000+10:00

So, you always vote Nats or Libs and always will.
But are they really looking after the bush? With the exception of a pork barrell that may or may not be rolled-out in your electorate just before the election, do they just take us for granted?

Before you jump-in with the old knee-jerk chestnuts, here's a few points off the top of my head to start some thinking:
1. John Anderson implemented MLA and Vaille and McGauran followed him up. This has resulted in a huge increase in livestock levies, NLIS and LPA QA. Perhaps this is OK by you.

2. Howard, Costello and Co. have increased tertiary HECs fees. Does that make it easier or more difficult for your children to attend university?

3. Vaille, McGauran and Co. have welcomed USA meat at risk from foot and mouth sourced by US companies in Brazil. What's their reason for NLIS and LPA then?

4. Vaille, McGauran and co. have agreed that Japan and the US buy meat other than Australian that isn't controlled by NLIS or LPA .

5. American producers are receiving much more for their meat than Australian producers.

6. Australia's debt is the highest that it's ever been by far, which affects us all.

7. Helen Coonan has blustered about pulling Telstra into line but coming up to the election has now passed this off to Ruddock as too hard.

8. Helen Coonan has given Elders and Optus nearly a Billion dollars of our money and apparently the word is that they're still not going to connect the Bush!

9. The Libs & Nats have removed the right of all Australian children to receive an education. They have given Private schools multiples more in funding than tertiary education. (Don't even think about our local state/public schools).

10. Malcolm Turnbull backed by Howard and Truss, are enabling non-farmers to trade in water to turn a profit while our farms dry-up!

That should do for now. Let's not get into the debate on biodiesel subsidies, decimation of rail and health services, whether our money spent on Iraq would have been better spent on better water management than simply putting in more dams, etc etc.

Are these the sorts of issues to make you *really* consider voting the 'other' way this time or have you faced-up to what the pollies seem to take for granted, that you'll vote for them come what may?!

What do you think? (Please leave a comment below)

Are Horse-Flue & Foot and Mouth Disease Related?

2007-09-05T15:27:00.000+10:00

These diseases may differ medically, but to AQIS and the Government they should be treated no differently.
We have hundreds of horses 'down' with this disasterous flu but still while Rome is burning Nero fiddles on. i.e. Minister McGauran has agreed to let foot and mouth disease at risk meat into Australia from the US.

Isn't this a classic case of letting the horse bolt and then trying to re-stable it?!

You'd reckon McGauran et al, including AQIS, would want to learn as quickly as possible and shore-up our defences to prevent this sort of thing happening again to our precious livestock. And you'd think they'd be even more vigilant when it comes to our massive meat livestock market. We are 2nd only to Brazil in beef exports but are allowing meat at risk of foot and mouth into Australia from the US and Brazil. It will be a sad day if (when?) some exotic disease devestates our meat industry because some poilticians wanted to "Go All The Way With LBJ"!
What do you think?
(Please post a comment below).

What's The Interest In Changed Rates?

2007-08-08T14:28:00.001+10:00

Interest rates have gone up for the fourth time in 15 months because we're all doing so well, didn't you know!

Isn't your farm worth 3 times as much as it was 8 years ago? Houses are so the rest of us must be doing well too. Pity you can't eat equity and have to borrow for feed and fencing.

Aren't you benefiting from the miners making a huge whack out of sending-off sand from the sand-pit for other countries to value-add (I thought we would have learnt from the mistakes of Pig Iron Bob doing the same during WWII). The fact that we're buying it all back in white-goods, bikes, computers etc etc doesn't worry the miners though. They're only concerned with getting trained labour off our farms.
And the fact that we're borrowing at record levels to fund all this is OK according to Messers Howard &, Costello - they say we can afford it. (Remember the Debt Truck? it was something less than $300Billion but now it's more like $500Billion !)

Let's not forget our core business of food prices either. Apparently milk and meat are up which is great for our incomes isn't it. How much have you received of these?

Thank goodness Messers Anderson, Vaille & McGauran are sticking-up for the farmers, 'cos no-one else cares a hoot! What was that Mr. Vaille? Please don't speak while Mr. McGauran is requesting another safe seat. You wouldn't mind a job in London soon? Hang-on, we're still looking for a Board possie for Mr. Anderson. Isn't he the bloke we need to reward for setting-up MLA, NLIS and LPA. Perhaps Donnie McGaughie would like to move over and let another good old boy get his nose in the trough so Telstra can continue to ream his rural mates!

Interest rates aren't special. They're just another nail in the proverbial.

What do you think? (Please leave a comment below)

Farming Biosecurity Risk!

2007-08-02T14:01:00.000+10:00

Australian Beef Association (ABA) chairman, Brad Bellinger, has stated that Australia's quarantine processes are "hopeless" and are placing Australians at risk.

“They can’t even adhere to Australia ’s own Trade Practises Act rules on Country of Origin Labelling". "They are still turning a blind eye to 'Product of USA' beef that is from Brazil ('a foot and mouth' country - ed.) -making a mockery of the rules".

Mr. Bellinger said, “Under the Canberra Free Trade mantra, Bio Security has adopted an ‘anything goes’ approach. "They have opened the pork industry to imports from disease-afflicted countries, despite legal rulings against it. "They have exposed the banana, apple and now the beef industry to the same risks". "Their handling of citrus canker outbreak in the citrus orchards in Emerald, Qld, was a total disgrace".

Mr Bellinger said, “We congratulate our sister organisation R-CALF in the United States on achieving Country of Origin Labelling legislation for beef."
“Canberra has lost the plot completely and we can only hope that the Shadow Minister lives up to his pledge, should he be elected”. (Mr Bellinger applauded the announcement by Shadow Minister for Primary Industries, Senator O’Brien that, if elected, he will hold an inquiry into Australia ’s quarantine administration).

Should meat from Foot and mouth countries be allowed into Australia? Should Country of origin labelling be stringently policed?

What do you think? (Click on 'Comment' below to leave your opinion).

Supermarkets To Pay Higher Meat Prices - Boswell

2007-07-26T10:40:00.000+10:00

Hah! Not likely! Retail prices are up again but the Nat's have found more excuses for prices not being pased through to producers!
Wouldn't it be nice if the Nat's Senators Boswell, Anderson, McGauran and Vaille actually stood for something in favour of their farming constituency. Instead all they seem to do is kowtow to the Libs and 'bag' Labor.

Labor seems to at least be interested in the fact that grocery prices are increasing. (The CPI was 1.4% this quarter alone i.e. 5.6% on an annual basis! Do your meat prices relfect this?) . It wants to investigate supermarket pricing because farmers aren't getting such increases.

Senator Boswell however, says that, "The only way to bring prices down is to encourage more competition and independent operators in the grocery sector, and for Australian shoppers to change their habits to support them." Fat chance, mate! He says, "... we live in a free country where people are allowed to buy what they choose from whom they choose to buy it, at a price they are prepared to pay."
Sounds good in theory, but with our largest processor (AMH) owned by our largest competitor (Brazil) and the two largest retailers owning 70% of the market, it might be time to listen to someone who might be interested in helping us and not just propping-up the Big end of Town.
What do you think?
Click on Comment below to leave your thoughts.

Are Gunns and Great Southern Against Farmers Gaining Carbon Credits?

2007-07-18T15:59:00.000+10:00

Planting a tree gains a car buyer carbon offsets in the USA.
Does it follow that car companies might buy-up plantations as investments to counter-act their polluting ways? (Not that it actually decreases pollution, of course!)
If John Howard can envisage this scenario, why can't he envisage Australia's farmers getting in on the Carbon-trading act? Farmers are responsible for vegetation management on a scale that can only be dreamt of in cities and towns. Farm vegetation has the added and no less important effects of protecting and improving soil quality, salinity control, pasture improvement and livestock production. This would suggest that perhaps farm vegetation should be worth more to the environment than island-like plantations resulting in desert wastelands at the end of their time.
Three questions must be asked:
1. Would the large plantation groups be less valuable to this argument if farmers were included in Carbon credit schemes. i.e. Is there silent lobbying of the PM from this area?
2. Are the vegetation management efforts of Australian farmers important to Australians?
3. Are Australian farmers becoming less relevant to Conservative governments because of their diminished voting capacities?

What do you think? (Click 'comments' below to leave your thoughts)

A Producer Writes To MLA Re. Cattle 'High' Prices

2007-07-11T16:54:00.000+10:00

High cattle prices? Says who?
MLA should never print the words "high cattle prices" in reference to Australian cattle prices.
Whilst cattle prices are higher than previously, they are also lower than previously and certainly not at an historical high.
On a world stage however, Australian cattle prices are low.
The EYCI sits at 339, around $1.86 per kg live
US feeder prices are around 86.5 US/lb which is A$2.53 live, US prices are 36% higher.
In Japan, B2 carcasses are at just under $11 per kg and the A5 Wagyu carcass is at just over A$23 per kg equating to $4000 per head for dairy steers and $10,000 per head for high end Wagyu.
Australian cattle prices are certainly not high on a world stage.
The 2 decades of deflation in Japan have resulted in an expectation that prices will continue to come down.
Using high to describe Australian cattle prices in print merely reinforces this expectation with beef.
(This was sent to MLA by a producer in response to a statement in the MLA weekly publication, "Friday Weekly").

Are Labelling Laws An Issue To Australian Farmers?

2007-07-04T13:00:00.000+10:00

The ABA has called on Minister McGauran to enforce his Government’s Labelling Laws on US/Brazilian Beef Imports. And its Chairman Brad Bellinger has stated that, "Australia, with our clean image and the very costly NLIS is bringing in product that could be contaminated in Brazil or the USA on its way here..".

(Click here to view the ABA media release click to view article )

Is this something that irks Australia's farmers or is the ABA for some reason way off the mark?

Do you think that such action could potentially damage the way in which other markets such as Korea and Japan view our meat health standards and as a result our own product that we are exporting?

What is the MLA's opinion on this issue?

What do you think? (click on the 'comments' link down to the right to leave your feedback)

Is It Too Late To Stop NLIS (and LPA)?

2007-06-28T20:54:00.000+10:00

Well, the horse has bolted and NLIS is here to stay....or is it?

The processors, MLA, Cattle Council, the farmers representative groups and state and federal govts. are all in favour and have ruled thus.

Many producers were originally confused as to why they should comply, but most now at least have experienced that it is a huge impost in terms of labour, time and item and equipment purchase costs. And they can't be oblivious to the fact that despite what the processors (and their MLA colleagues) are saying, no export country is demanding NLIS (or the new mandated QA system, LPA for that matter). Those producers vocally in support of these systems state the line propelled by the authorities and in the main seem to think their brands are having value added to them by any type of QA program (as distinct from actual premiums being gained by these programs), (and I think you will discover that many of these vocal groups in fact receive industry funding e.g. for programs via MLA to them either directly as stud groups or through stud associations).

If the reality is that;
1. processors want NLIS (and LPA) to track their meat through the supply chain to enhance their processes and not really for the stated reasons of providing food safety surety to the rest of the World and
2. producers in general would be happy to not have NLIS (and LPA),

then what can be done about it?

Death taxes were abolished and they were worth more to the govt. than NLIS and LPA. Do producers have any rights in a democracy to roll-back such things or is it like GST and a done deal?

What do you think?