Live-cattle export industry in danger, says Paul Holmes a Court

27 February 2010

CATTLE baron Paul Holmes a Court has warned the $700 million live-cattle export industry is under threat of collapse from plunging profits, Indonesia's growing import restrictions and animal-welfare concerns.

And the chief executive of the Heytesbury cattle empire, which stretches across the Northern Territory and into Western Australia, said a key to saving the industry was for station owners to hire more Aboriginal cattlemen.

In a veiled swipe at mining chiefs, he argued this would create "real jobs" and do more to address indigenous disadvantage than government programs or mining companies that "brag" about how many indigenous people they employed.

Speaking in Perth yesterday at the annual meeting of Western Australia's Pastoralists and Graziers Association, Mr Holmes a Court said cattle prices were falling while labour, fuel and other costs continued to rise.

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"We face a very real set of serious and imminent threats," he said.

"If current trends continue, our business as we know it will cease to be."

Both Mr Holmes a Court and federal agriculture minister Tony Burke told the meeting they were concerned Australia exported 90 per cent of its live cattle to Indonesia and Mr Burke encouraged the industry to spread the risk by branching out to countries such as Vietnam.

Mr Holmes a Court said Indonesia had moved last week to limit Australian imports after indicating it wanted to become self-sufficient in beef.

He said more should be done to address community concerns over animal welfare in destination countries, especially in overseas abattoirs.

And finding jobs for Aboriginal people was critical to the survival of cattle stations across northern Australia, he said.

It would address growing labour shortages and garner crucial respect and support from the community and governments.

"The jobs we can give are real . . . not jobs that are part of the latest government program . . . and not jobs that are appearing on some mining company's indigenous employment quota, that they brag about on their website," Mr Holmes a Court said.

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