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The threat to Aussie steak

Tracey Spicer

by Tracey Spicer

23 Feb 05:44am

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Filed under: Agriculture, Disease, Trade

53 comments

Lost in the aftershocks of the home insulation scandal is a story with deadly implications for beef farming in Australia.

We're at risk of being swamped by mad cows - Moo.

A Senate inquiry is underway into a decision to lift the ban on importing beef from countries tainted by mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

From next Monday, beef from countries like the US, Canada, Britain and other European nations will enter Australia, without being subject to the usual import risk assessments.

If you believe the federal government, an independent review of scientific evidence indicates it’s now safe.

If you believe the opposition, the government is being led by the nose by large multinational processors which dominate the industry.

“It’s plain bloody stupid and I’m going to raise hell about it,” Liberal Senator Bill Heffernen said with characteristic subtlety.

While farmers are organising protest rallies, those purporting to represent them are sending mixed messages.

The Australian Beef Association has said the expected increase in imports couldn’t come at a worse time: beef prices are at their lowest level since the 1974-78 cattle depression.

Three abattoirs have closed in recent weeks, with the loss of 540 jobs.

Because of the strong Aussie dollar, there’s likely to be a flood of imported processed food including pies, sausage rolls and beef jerky, which will be sold bearing an Aussie flag.

It only has to be “substantially transformed” here to be labelled Made in Australia.

The president of the Cattle Council of Australia, Greg Brown, seems to have splinters from sitting on the fence.

After initially saying he was “horrified” to hear there’d be no import risk assessments, he now claims “there’s a low risk of BSE entering the country, but we need to be confident we have a process that ensures that risk is as low as we can possibly make it.”

Now, here’s where it gets interesting.

Some beef industry power brokers actually supported lifting the ban, but were forced to sign confidentiality agreements with the government.

Both the Red Meat Advisory Council and Meat and Livestock Australia are believed to be “on side”.

MLA managing director David Palmer told the senate estimates inquiry it’s all about providing “trade consistency”, while RMAC chairman Ian McIvor insisted that “the risk of Australia importing BSE-affected products remains negligible”.

Their support for the government has come as a rude shock to many cattle farmers, reeling from long periods of drought and competition from the live export trade.

During a rally at a Labor party dinner in Lismore last week, Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard barely looked up as she ran the gauntlet.

Later, rally leader Anne Thompson handed her a petition to table in parliament.

Fearing a rural revolt late Friday, Agriculture Minister Tony Burke made a commitment that farmers will be part of the process to design the food safety protocols for applications to being beef to Australia.

But he only committed to protocols protecting human health – not animal health.

The Minister reckons we’re protected by quarantine regulations but, as one farmer said on our 2UE program yesterday, that didn’t stop the outbreak of equine influenza three years ago.

The core issue is the double standard of “traceability”.

Beef coming into Australia from BSE-affected countries won’t be traced back to individual farms, while cattle properties at home are tracked through the National Livestock Identification System.

“How on earth can we be sure about the beef that’s coming from that (overseas) property?” asked Nationals senator Fiona Nash.

Privately, many farmers fear the beef sector will head down the same path as the pork industry, crippled by the flood of cheap imports from North America.

In the words of one of the thousands of farmers peppering protest websites, “It’s a sell-out of Australian farmers, Australian consumers AND Australian jobs”.

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53 comments

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    • ganesh says:

      07:07am | 23/02/10

      well the Australian cow meat industry has gone down the same industrialised factory farming route too. From the ‘beef’ or ‘steaks’ point of view, does it make much difference?
      Oops, sorry forgot its not about animal welfare. But a human preference for cheap access to animal protein.

      Reply

    • Phil says:

      07:23am | 23/02/10

      This is a joke, why would we consider this at all. Our farmers have done it hard for a while so as soon as we get some rain lets bring in cheap imports to wipe them out.

      This will have the Woolworths effect. They enter the market cheaply to drive out competition only to later on increase the prices and increase their profits.

      Do people really think that this meat will be significantly cheaper. Parties will sell it slightly cheaper without the markings so you will think your lamb cutlers come from here rather than US, UK or similar.

      It is a joke but to be expected from the labor party.

      Reply

    • Faul Kinell says:

      08:46am | 23/02/10

      Phil, I think you will find the previous gov had a hand in this with “free trade” with the Americans agreement.
      Think you are right re Woolies/Coles though!

    • Phil says:

      10:01am | 23/02/10

      Agree that the previous gov did the free trade agreements, however we have always been strong on border and even inter state pest irradication/prevention. Why we would consider this is beyond me regardless of who is in power.

    • acker says:

      07:48am | 23/02/10

      Stupidest decision I have ever heard .. !! vast areas of Central, Western and Northern Australia is country only suitable for animal grazing, add to that a large populations of feral pigs and camels, large populations of native animals Roos and Emus: An outbreak of Mad Cow or Foot&Mouth; would be pretty well uncontainable. And lets remember Pigs were a vector in the spread of Mad Cow..the following peice from the article pretty well sums it up.

      “The Minister reckons we’re protected by quarantine regulations but, as one farmer said on our 2UE program yesterday, that didn’t stop the outbreak of equine influenza three years ago.” RECKONS !!!!!

      Also WTF are we importing farm products from countries that subsidise their farmers and in cases even pay them not produce anything.

      Reply

    • acker says:

      07:53am | 23/02/10

      “Ian McIvor insisted that “the risk of Australia importing BSE-affected products remains negligible”......the risk of pedophiles re-offending is supposedly negligible, but I doubt Ian McIvor, Tony Bourke or Kevin Rudd will offer to rent a spare room to one.

      Reply

    • iansand says:

      10:35am | 23/02/10

      What about importing calves?

      This is a spectacular leap of illogic.

    • danj says:

      08:09am | 23/02/10

      You have got to be kidding. I didn’t know about this and my first reaction is lunacy. It is plain ridiculous that Australian farmers who generally engage worlds best practice and are regulated to do so through schemes such as NLIS are forced to compete with inferior imports and there is little way for consumers to tell the difference on the shelf because of the ridiculous and unfair labelling laws and loopholes.

      If the Australian government don’t want farmers why don’t they just come out and say it and we’ll sell the farms to Bob Brown and Penny Wong so they can lock them up and let the feral animals roam free, let the irrigation water go out to sea and let the farmers and all the other workers who rely on farmers such as bank managers, stock agents, truck drivers, grain traders etc. join the dole queue.

      Reply

    • OzMum says:

      08:23am | 23/02/10

      Plus we, the Aussie consumers, won’t know how the beef was “raised” i.e. either on pasture or in a “feed lot”.  Feed-lot production is huge overseas whereas you can be pretty confident that most Aussie beef was pastured.  I would much rather eat pastured beef.

      There should, at least, be labelling enforcements to show which country the beef was raised so that we have a choice.

      Reply

    • ganesh says:

      09:09am | 23/02/10

      sounds nice in theory, but feed lot production is the only way to raise ‘beef’ at the prices people demand. They can’t all living on nice pasture… world’s best practice isn’t saying a whole lot when it comes to the meat industry. Six of one…

    • acker says:

      09:40am | 23/02/10

      Most Australian beef you buy as steaks (supermarkets & butchers) are finished in a feedlot for about 4-6 months (young castrated male cattle “steers”) ...Old breeders (bulls and cows) tend to end up as mince and sausages. Some butchers do sell paddock reared beef including steaks though.

    • Adam Diver says:

      08:32am | 23/02/10

      I love cheaper prices partiularly for my Meat. But the isue is that I still won’t be able to buy it any cheaper as woolies and coles will just increase their margins. So since the consumer won’t benefit why would this even be considered. Its absolute lunacy.

      Reply

    • Murray says:

      09:12am | 23/02/10

      I’m always concerned by this idea that arguments against protectionism shouldn’t apply to farmers.  For me, it is a case of finding the balance between the benefits of free trade against the quarantine aspects of preventing disease coming into the government.  Protectionism shouldn’t come into it, farmers should have to compete on the global market just as the rest of us have to.

      Reply

    • danj says:

      09:25am | 23/02/10

      Farmers only want their livelihoods protected by way of quarantine and better labelling laws so that consumers can make an informed choice about where their food is coming from. They don’t want tariffs. Not too much to ask is it?

    • murray says:

      10:04am | 23/02/10

      danj, I think you will find that many farmers are arguing for a reduction in meat imports, not better quarantine and labelling.

    • danj says:

      10:45am | 23/02/10

      Oh yeah? Well who are they? I’m involved in agribusiness and my family are sheep and cropping farmers. I did ag at uni and as a result of my job and background I only really socialise and work with people who have or have had something to do with agriculture and I have never known anyone to mention words such as tariffs, protectionism, closing borders etc. Almost all people I know and work with are free traders.

      However we know that Australian people want to eat Australian produce, because they know that they’re getting a quality product produced to worlds best standard. They know for example Australian vegies haven’t been irrigated with raw sewage as some Chinese produced ones are. They know that Australian produced cattle haven’t had the tendons in their legs sliced before they were slaughtered to make them easier to control. They know that Australian packing sheds and abatoirs have very stringent hygene regulations which don’t necessarily exist in other countries. And they know that Australian produce is more likely to be fresh simply because its from down the road rather than having spent months at sea.

      What the Australian consumer doesn’t know however is what is Australian and what isn’t in the supermarket because we have these ridiculous ‘Packaged in Australia’ and ‘Made from Australian and Imported Produce’ labels that are misleading and tricky.

      So I say and so do all my aggy mates when we’re standing around the bonnie after about 10 beers, sure import the stuff and give consumers the choice (within quarantine regulations) but for christ’s sake tell them where its from in no uncertain terms and consumers will back Australian and that’s all we need.

    • Tom says:

      11:09am | 23/02/10

      Yes, but the heavy subsidies given to agriculture in other countries mean that it isn’t really a fair playing field for Australian farmers. Both the US and the EU give huge farm subsidies, which essentially will mean that Australian farmers are forced to compete with goods produced under huge subsidies.

      And when you consider the food safety concerns, and the high energy usage required to transport meat refrigerated huge distances overseas, it is clear that protections for agriculture present a completely different situation for protections for manufactured goods etc.

    • Paddy says:

      09:16am | 23/02/10

      The power of the DUOPOLY comes to the fore. Woolworths and Coles in the first year will import an estimated 600,000 tonnes or 600,000,000 kilograms of prime cuts from USA et al. In USA these sell for around $12 per kilo with good margin.
      All labeled “local and imported product”.
      Here, the duopoly has recently increased prices to a band of between $24 - $35 per kilo. It costs 56 cents a kilo in freight and associated fees to land beef here from the USA.  $12 extra magin per kilo at the minimum.
      The profit contribution? A lazy $7.2billion, yep $7,200,000,000 each year. Profit, bottom line.
      That sort of money means we definitely have the best politicians and AQIS money can buy.

      Reply

    • Tim says:

      09:54am | 23/02/10

      If this is true, why is Australian beef so expensive compared to the US?
      Do the subsidies their farmers receive account for the difference?

    • Phil says:

      01:48pm | 23/02/10

      Tim

      We are gettiing fleeced. A friend of mine says that if you bought a cow at auction and paid for transport, for it to be processed, less selling the parts you dont need (skin internals) you could put the meat in your freezer for about $6 per kilo average. This includes eye fillet, rump, sausages, chops etc. Average in shops is over $ 20-25 over the whole beast.

    • acker says:

      09:30am | 24/02/10

      Your figures are wrong 600 000 tonnes of dressed beef equates approxiamately to around 3 million cattle weighing about 400kg each

      (3,000,000 x 400 = 1,200,000,000 @50% dressed {meat from animal} = 600,000,000 kg [ x 0.01 {kg ~tonne}] = 600, 000 tonne.

      USA total beef exports 2008 were 1.888 Billion pounds which equates to about 856 400 tonnes

      http://www.ers.usda.gov/news/BSECoverage.htm

      Your suggestion that the USA will suddenly export about 69% of their current beef exports to Australia is highly unlikely and I suggest your figures are wrong.

      A major reason price is high also is because the more choice cuts of Australian Beef bring even higher prices when exported to Japan and Korea. Note the Jap Ox and Korean Steer price indicators on the back page of most Australian Agricultural newspapers, if you have ever read one of course wink

    • H of SA says:

      09:54am | 23/02/10

      I’m pretty angry with the government for this one. Keep the sub standard beef out of my country please.

      Reply

    • N says:

      10:05am | 23/02/10

      I’m quite pleased at this idea, and purely for patriotic reasons. You see, people are fast becoming tired of imported fruit, veg and now meat in order to drive prices lower. The solutions many are finding are farmers markets, which cut out the Woollies / Coles middle men and allow the consumer to buy Aussie produce at lower cost.

      My message is go nuts, import fruit, veg, meat all you want; it’s just driving home another nail in the Duopoly giant coffin. Unfortunately such measures only exacerbate our current trade deficit, but that’s another issue and one the current government is quick to ignore…

      Reply

    • Relativity says:

      10:08am | 23/02/10

      The MLA is a peak industry body with a majority of Government and self appointed board members. With respect to producer appointed board members the voting rights are determined by the volume of cattle sold in any year. This has the effect of skewing the vote in favor of the high volume producers in the feedlots who incidently use hormone growth products to accelerate cattle growth.(Something outlawed in Europe but not Australia) This means the vast majority of producers only get a minor say in how the MLA operates and the recommendations given to government. The relaxing of these imports is lunacy and is done to benefit someone - but not the small producer who will be driven out of the industry.

      Reply

    • Kyle says:

      10:09am | 23/02/10

      Great one guys - Let’s give out a poorly designed stimulus package in the vain hope of keeping our economy afloat and then shoot it in the foot with this B/S!  The incompetence of the current government continues to amaze me.  I’m a 23yr male pharmacist with no real interest in politics but even I see something dramatically wrong with this picture.  Enough is enough labour, you’ve got us into huge national debt and now your trying to destroy our local economy and our ability to service that debt.  Bring back Johnny and the Liberals.

      Reply

    • Steve of Cornubia says:

      10:10am | 23/02/10

      The trouble with this free trade malarky upon which much of Australia’s wealth is built (i.e. $billions from exporting wool, meat, minerals, coal, etc) is that we’re supposed to play fair and accept other nation’s goods in return.

      The BSE thing was another over-the-top scare story, like the Millenium Bug, Swine Flu, Bird Flu, AGW, etc, etc. Like them, the reality is much less exciting. In fact, BSE is far less of a threat than most food-poisoning bugs like salmonella.

      Come on Australia, if you want other countries to buy Aussie goods, you must expect them to sell theirs here.

      Reply

    • Paddy says:

      10:36am | 23/02/10

      Steve
      Under an addendum (meaning a subtle late addition kept away from the Press) to the FTA with the USA, Howard agreed Australia would assist and support the USA to open up Asian markets to US beef which Korea and Co had previously refused to accept due to the BSE outbreaks in the US.
      This was the wedge the Liberals used to give Woolworths the ability to bring US beef into Australia. AQIS is simply a tool for the duoploy as its CEO a few years ago stated its role was to have Australia to comply with international trade requirements (strange I thought it was quarantine, but apparently not) after a couple of Melbourne journalists working on the Sunday HeraldSun busted AQIS fudging reports and taking short cuts to come up with a pre determined conclusion that   NZ fire blight apples were safe to import. Who are the major buyers of apples? ummmm Woolworths and Coles.
      If Australians do not buy what is produced locally then people become unemployed or close business. US beef producers have many cost and tax advantages in comparison with Australia and so export beef is priced at just above the dead weight price paid per kilo in Australia. Prime cuts sell at or under $12 kilo with good margin in the major supermarkets.
      So Steve, if you can tell us where you are employed or run a business, we might be able to help organise a little bit of competition for you or your employer and then in 6 months you can give us a summation on how this impacts you or your employer. If we can arrange a few State and Federal Government assistance packages for them (but not you) all the better.
      I am sure you will see this as fair and reasonable, afterall, consumers are buying your goods or servces.

    • Tom says:

      10:53am | 23/02/10

      Steve, having worked on bird flu eradication in Southeast Asia it was certainly ‘no over-the-top scare’.  mortality rates amongst chickens and ducks was as high as 90 percent. It had a similar rate of mortality amongst humans who got infected.

      Amongst my colleagues in the various animal health departments throughout Southeast Asia there was a very real concern about food security as poultry was a major protein provider for many families. if you have ever visited southeast Asia you cant help but notice that every other house has a few scrawny chickens scratching about.

    • Tom says:

      11:13am | 23/02/10

      But the thing is, that Australian farmers would not be competing under a free trade regime. US and EU farmers are heavily subsidised, and hence have an artificial advantage over Australian farmers. Free trade implies trade in goods free of government intervention; the US and EU trade subsidies are anything but.

    • Willa says:

      10:40am | 23/02/10

      As a country restaurant owner, we are not interested in overseas imports for many reasons. It’s hard enough for the farmers as it is and to import ‘generic unidentified’ products with any risk at all of BSE goes totally against where food is moving… that is local, quality & boutique even (woolies identify the providence of their food these days). Get with the times labour and stop trying to claw back the money you spent on junk by screwing over your own people. Have you not watched the footage of farmers crying as they burned their livestock during foot in mouth and BSE outbreaks. You should be ashamed of yourselves for even considering putting this risk on farmers on top of what they have had to endure through crashed beef market, drought and years of struggle, especially as consumers won’t see any benefit. I fear for the future of Australia if all we care about is lining our own pockets at the expense of our fellow Australian’s. Welcome to bland land, no culture, no empathy, no beliefs, but plenty of money in the pen pushers pockets!

      Reply

    • Aberford says:

      10:44am | 23/02/10

      Our large beef industry provides a lot of jobs, particularly in areas where unemployment is high.  Beef is also a major export earner.

      As the only island continent, we would be stupid beyond belief to invite potentially contaminated product into Australia.  One outbreak of imported disease would cripple the industry, and this would reflect right through the economy.

      Perhaps the rush to put our beef production at risk is being led by political donations and good ol’ pollie schmoozing?  It appears that the current rulers of the universe are very susceptible to ski, sports box and a host of other blandishments.

      Reply

    • Louis says:

      10:51am | 23/02/10

      Yeah over the top! Get stuffed! We all know BSE had an negligible effect on other countries. Many countries won’t import beef from those countries and if they do it has to be over a certain age… That can be very unprofitable, please note farmers here aren’t subsidised.

      When the USA was BSE free they set the standard very high! Now that they are infected they expect everyone else to set the standard very low. Free trade agreement or not what this current government (and possibly past governments) is doing is not in the peoples interest. If one cannot see that please leave your little box known as the cities of Australia for a few hours and open your eyes.

      If one government could just try to let farmers keep their life style that’d be nice. They have to battle with subsidised markets, poor state infrastructure, ludicrous greens, anti-farm propaganda in schools and now(seems they always are) they have to battle with poor governments who have so many other interests other than Australia or it’s people. It’s an uphill battle and they’ve been copping this rubbish for far too long.

      We laugh at middle eastern countries who sell all their resources and have money yet fail to develop any other industry and go bust once the money stops rolling in from oil. It’s sad because we are exporting all our resources also and failing to develop other industry or better yet failing to allow them to develop.

      Long live the family farm! The ALP, Greens and some of the selfish Lib’s and independents can go burn with all the cattle.

      Reply

    • GreenFrog says:

      11:11am | 23/02/10

      Something as basic as meat or veg, I only want to buy Aussie. I have faith in Australian producers and none in anywhere else. If that sounds bad in anyway, well I am sorry but I feel we should support our own country first. Not only that I don’t want some slipup and all of a sudden I have gone crazy through getting mad cows from overseas beef. I would rather pay the extra and support our farmers and make sure my health will not be affected by inferior products.

      Reply

    • Mikko says:

      11:13am | 23/02/10

      Hey Tracey maybe the answer could be on another Punch post here
      http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/killing-cane-toads-with-love/
      beat the Chinese at their own game, give our struggling beef producers a second income source while their dams are full, save some native wildlife, boost our exports (food and medicinal drug). Forget Peking Duck, go for Peking Cane Toad.
      Somehow I don’t think we’ll be seeing this on the shelves at Woolies and Coles, or on the menu at our favourite restaurants any time soon, but hey, 1.3 billion Chinese can’t be wrong. Pass the plum sauce please. (TIC)

      Reply

    • Jimmy says:

      11:19am | 23/02/10

      Have you done any research about this at all?

      In most EU countries you can trace where the meat comes from as it is stamped on the package, and also mandatory by law. I see no reason why Australia is unable to demand this from the farms they will be importing from.

      Also, do you really think that all meat outside of Australia contains BSE; and that everyone in those countries it BSE infected meat?

      Reply

    • acker says:

      11:48am | 23/02/10

      Jimmy ...Europe is a highly populated land mass with very intensive farming of mainly small herds of cattle. Australia is a low populated land mass with mostly very extensive farming of mainly large herds of cattle. Add about 20 million Feral Pigs (a known BSE vector) and perhaps you might start seeing why I think even a small outbreak here would be catastrophic and a lot harder to control than in Europe.

    • Jimmy says:

      12:24pm | 23/02/10

      @Acker: I am not disputing that an outbrake can hurt Australia; I am pointing out that it seems many Aussies think that all meat that is sold and eaten in other countries normally contain BSE.

      My comment on the labeling is more for the consumer, so they know where it comes from and they can choose more correctly and not be tricked, finding out later they bought imported meat.

    • E says:

      11:36am | 23/02/10

      Clearly if one side is subsidised and the other isnt, thats not free trade or fair competition.
      We should impose some sort of tariff to cancel out the effect of government subsidies and level the playing field.
      Should probably do the same with Chinease labor as well, plus some sort of ‘human rights abuser’ tariff.
      It sucks how the big end of town are constantly able to have their cake and eat it too (because they steal ours)

      Reply

    • rene says:

      11:47am | 23/02/10

      I dont care as long as I can see where the meat is actually raised. I want it labelled “Australian” and I will only buy Australian even if it means paying more. I do not buy anything that has the comment “made from local and imported goods”.  Especially from China as yes, their products can be affected by raw sewage contamination.  I prefer to know my meat and fresh prodush is Aussie.  Even on the odd occasion I need to but something from the big 2, if it says its not australian, i would rather go without.  So I think we all should try and only buy Australian as much as we can. Although places like Maccas etc and even probably most restaurants will probably end up using the cheap imported stuff.  I don’t think I would be eating out as much then.

      Reply

    • shane says:

      12:18pm | 23/02/10

      If you want Australian buy Australian! protectionism is never the answer.
      Imagine if other countries banned Australian beef.

      Reply

    • Steve of Cornubia says:

      12:40pm | 23/02/10

      Can you imagine the outrage?

      This thread has flushed out more of that ‘non-existent’ Aussie nationalism.

    • acker says:

      02:52pm | 23/02/10

      @shane ....France and the UK pay their farmers not to produce animal or plant products on some of their land. USA pays their farmers a subsidy to make them competitive…the Australian farmers at best get some drought releif funding here and there. The Japanese are still very uneasy about touching EU Beef because of Mad Cow.

    • David Anderson says:

      01:19pm | 23/02/10

      As a beef producer, I have no problem with competing with imports that are of the same health standards as the domestic product.tThe cattle industry through NLIS has individual traceability for all cattle within Australia.
      If the beef is being imported from Foot & mouth free, BSE free & has individual traceabilty happy to have the competition as we already compete on the global market.
      If the imports are from areas that do not have this in place, why risk our multi billion dollar industry?
      We have recently had a significant advantage in the Korean market as they have placed strict protocols on USA beef due to BSE; the USA cattle lobby has in return attempted to pressure Korea into letting their health standards drop. Why would be now destroy our competitive advantage?

      Reply

    • AdamC says:

      01:29pm | 23/02/10

      Is this a health argument or a protectionist argument. The BSE health argument is spurious: the risk is simply too small, especially from N American beef.

      If Aussie farmers don’t want the competition, they should just say so, or some up with better spin.

      Reply

    • Fedup with Failure says:

      01:35pm | 23/02/10

      After living in the UK for more than 6mths in the mid-90s I am blacklisted from donating blood at the Blood Bank. If non-sympomatic potential donors are still being knockedback after 15 years, why would we jeapodise our grazing stock and population with what is deemed to be such a significant risk?

      Reply

    • Scot says:

      01:41pm | 23/02/10

      So what is Rudd Labor and their mates in the unions going to do about this one. They will also loose the country vote. They have been duded by the Rudd government yet again a failure. One by one all the abattoirs will close and the beef industry will be a shadow of its former self. If Australian has to impose expensive and compliant cradle to grave food chain tracking then all imports should also be made to do the same or they are banned from entry and must meet the Korean and Japanese standards. I have never seen a Labor minister for agriculture capable of doing a decent days work. Time for Rudd (bucks stops hear) to stand up be counted,

      Reply

    • Scot says:

      01:47pm | 23/02/10

      If these beef imports from the US and EC are subsidised by these countries then Australia should impose an import tax equal to the subsidy they are given by these countries. This will mean a level playing filed for the Australian producers who get no support from the Rudd Labor Government which is evident by what they are doing to the Australian beef industry,

      Reply

    • Joe says:

      03:53pm | 23/02/10

      The importation of cheap meat and veg will lead to the demise of an agricultural base which is capable of meeting the the food requirements of Australia.
      Billions of dollars are pumped into our defence forces and yet without an independent supply of food for our nation, we can simply be starved into submission.

      Reply

    • Cynic says:

      12:28am | 24/02/10

      I can imagine the discussion in Labor HQ:

      Laborite 1: “The farmers are really up in arms about this”
      Laborite 2: “Farmers never vote for us and everybody else couldn’t give a stuff about whinging farmers. Besides, we really need these big corporate donations to fund the election campaign this year!”

      Reply

    • acker says:

      07:56am | 25/02/10

      @Cynic… I would suggest that some Queensland regional MP’s get ready for a stormy ride during pre-selections. There are a fair few rank and file Labor members who own cattle.

      I think someone in Labor HQ needs to quickly get a reality check, when I worked in Central Queensland a lot of Labor people working in mines including those in unions owned cattle property’s near the mines or adjacent coastal area.

      This could explode spectacularly in pre-selections from Nambour to Cooktown.

 
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antsharwood 10 Feb 12 10:38AM

The factory where they make Boeing aeroplanes is the world's largest building #Todaysrandomfact.

Lucy Kippist

lucyjk 10 Feb 12 10:13AM

Can you wear skinny jeans when you're old enough to get a hip replacement? You bet: http://t.co/14b6UGnY

tory_maguire

_Tors 10 Feb 12 09:54AM

@jessmcguire I can't decide if that's the best thing ever or really troubling!

tory_maguire

_Tors 10 Feb 12 09:49AM

Best news pic of the day - the rescue of Busta the goat in Londonderry, Sydney, last night http://t.co/miMqk1fX

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From: Punch on: Open thread 09/02/2012

marley says:

I'm one of the older ones, so I've certainly seen a few changes in my time. When I started school I learned to write with a nib pen, dipped in an inkwell (no, I'm not kidding). My mother became a dab hand at getting inkstains out of my clothes. Flicking ink at one another in the classroom was an essential… [read more]

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