Various people have written so many excellent letters regarding the live export trade, effect of the current ban, and how to rectify the disastrous situation. The following letter was written by Christine Glenn (Pilbara region, Western Australia) to Sarah Ferguson – the ABC journalist on the 4 corners story on Australia’s live export trade to Indonesia.
“Dear Sarah
Sorry for the headline, but we need your help. My family live on and lease a remote cattle station in the North-West of Australia. You are at present the only person who can fix the current situation for the north of Australia and for the welfare of animals in Australia and Indonesia. The people and animals that are affected are real, we are entitled to have our story heard by you in the hope in the future you may obtain the best animal welfare outcome, and not the disaster we have now. I cannot not blame you for the actions of a minority government who did not give this issue the diplomatic and agricultural consideration it required, however I would hope that you would take the advice of mothers everywhere, always clean up where you’ve been even if is not your fault. I saw your interview on The Drum and your comments were not what I expected. I was surprised that it was not “Ban Live Export”, it was how do we put in safeguards, that you felt that cattle could enter Indonesia into feedlots/closed abattoirs that stun, if proper monitoring was in place. Please correct me if I have formed the wrong opinion, I have no wish to misrepresent your views. You seemed to express concern that the people you had met who had invested heavily in animal welfare in Indonesia were not able to receive cattle from Australia. I was horrified when I read in The Country Life that you had no idea that the timing of the show would cause the effect it did. I honestly felt most like crying at that point, when I realized this was not deliberate on your part. That the people who always put cattle first every day, are at the mercy of those who have watched 45min of words and footage and felt they could act without any knowledge of cattle, and for no reason other than lack of knowledge about the industry. If that is true and your goal is animal welfare, that it wasn’t deliberate, you must speak out and speak out today, if the people of Australia do not hear from you, the Prime Minister will be unable to act. Please do not underestimate the importance of your voice at this time. The last few weeks has shown us the Parliament is not in Julia’s hands, I have read thousands of comments on this issue in an attempt to understand the issues. It is very clear 4 Corners presented a picture of cruelty so horrific and deemed to be reflective of the entire industry, that immediately all trade must be stopped now and forever, disregarding those feedlots/ abattoirs that are world-class and where stunning is already in place. Senator Ludwig, Agriculture Minister with his vast experience as a Barrister, also appears to not understand that in the North, seasonal conditions will dictate that a 6 monthban will turn into a 12 month ban. That the timeframeof the review will mean that the export ships waiting at $30,000 – $50,000 USD a day will go to other areas, they have to. Lobbying to release $5 million means nothing in an industry where it would cost at least $40 million to move the cattle from WA and your average freight bill for 2 trailers of feed is $10,000. WA has been in drought for 2 years it does not matter what plan is in place if there is not enough feed to feed the cattle. Australia has offended Indonesia so badly by the complete withdrawal of a valued source of protein before Ramadan, even though there are feedlots withclosed abattoirs that stun and meet all requirements. An important decision to suspend in a bilateral relationship worth$11.5 of shared trade would usually be relayed by the Prime Minister, with follow-up visits by Senator Ludwig immediately after once protocol between the two leaders was established. We are now at the 4 week anniversary of 4 Corners and what has been the animal welfare outcome so far: In Australia:
– Mustering has stopped as people cannot afford to muster without the forward supply of the boats. The cost of a helicopter is between $5,000 – $10,000 per day. Even with live export very few have the resources to muster to no market.
– Those cattle that are Brahman in type have to travel to Perth and Townsville. Perth will not accept any of them them unless they are over 420kg and it is over 4000km to get to Townsville.
– Cattle will have to stand for every kilometre of that journey and travel into cold climates they also tremble and some will perish, however the numbers are not as accurately kept as on the boats. There are few yards to pull over in an emergency and no vets. They are allowed to get off to feed, however for their own safety they have to stand.
– Oddly enough processing plants have not sprung up overnight in the north of Australia and have not heard word of any proposed plants from any politician. Only talk of NZ’s success, a country so vastly different in size and rainfall to compare simply highlights the lack of knowledge regarding the issues Australia currently faces.
– Many pastoral leases in WA are run by families, 400 odd may go to the wall as after experiencing drought, this year will break them. We move in different circles to Paul Holmes a Court, he maybe unaware that WA is mainly family run pastoral dtations who did not know. The consequences for animal welfare are not good as families with intimate knowledge of areas the size of European nations, leave the land. The information they hold cannot be easily handed over it is normally handed down through generations.
– During summer, my husband, as do all in the area, take considerable risk to check on the welfare of their stock in the 45 degree heat. Many have perished whilst looking after their stock and these were the people so maligned by your program. Julia sealed their fate when she said “the industry knew”. Most pastoralists we know have not left their properties over summer, as they are isolated for months by floodwaters, the mail bringing MLA’s report their only knowledge of a country they are unlikely to visit as they do not get to the dentist or medical treatment. They were subjected to death threats, lovely behavior Australia.
– My immediate concern for my husband, while I wonder whether he is going to make it back each day is this, if anything happens to him who is going to look after the animals, sounds ridiculous doesn’t it. Where the cattle water in a million odd acres and what happens if the season is different to the last. My background is in administration I can record as much as I like and I do, but the longer I stay the more I realize, if this country is not managed by people who know it intimately, the livestock are at grave risk.
– Aboriginal owned stations many of whom have benefited from mentoring by industry to meet animal welfare standards will also lack the funds to train and employ the staff. On these stations as well the knowledge of country and where the cattle are, is vital that it be handed to the young, while the Elders are still with us, which is now.
– Even on non-Aboriginal stations we all know young stockmen that have committed suicide and the senseless waste of those with promising futures is lost in some of the highest figures in the world for suicide for young Kimberley males. We have had enough and are angry, that parties and people that publicly proclaim “Sorry” are not able to make that word mean anything for the future.
– Some of the best of our stockmen and women will lose their jobs, if they are skilled enough some will enter mining, most will not return as banks are unlikely to give you a loan if your industry is dependant on live export, this will leave a vacuum in knowledge of animal welfare in Australia that will not be filled. The $3million Centrelink payment is to survive for 12 weeks, it is irrelevant if there are no jobs at the end of it.
– Cattle are now at risk of perishing on the rangelands of WA in summer and next drought. In NT producers are worried that the country is drying out and they will not be able to afford lick for the cattle’s welfare, people are desperately concerned for their stock. Their concern is real and not over-dramatised. The Brahman herds especially bred for the Asian market are tick-resistant but not easily absorbed into southern markets.
– There has been no audit of feed levels conducted in Australia, and no independent inquiry into existing processing facilities and capacity, and more concerning no detailed study into how long the cattle affected by the ban will have to travel. If the concern was about long-distance transport, Australia just lost it’s closest slaughter point by a good 3000km.
– Indonesia has previously acted as a buffer zone for Foot and Mouth Disease and was a valued surveillance partner for the same. Make no mistake, if drought is holocaust for cattle, Foot and Mouth would be Armageddon for many of Australia’s animals, not just cattle.
– There would be of no amount of helicopters and marksmen and that would be able to cover the 100 million hectares plus to engage in a wide-scale culling program, many animals would suffer. Australia in which live export has dramatically improved welfare for cattle, suddenly is about to witness one of the largest animal welfare crisis’s since the perishing of 50 million sheep in the last century. So that was 4 weeks for Australia, how did the Animal Welfare improve in Indonesia:
– Foreigners are no longer allowed into abattoirs. Those abattoirs filmed might be still trading, but now no-one can observe. Any Australians that were observing now have no mandate to be there.
– All people who have invested heavily in animal welfare in Indonesia cannot receive cattle from Australia, so financiers will be highly unlikely to provide funds for future improvements. Again all the staff trained in low-stress techniques at these feedlots are in danger of being lost, as cattle was not supplied to the good operators.
– Australia’s ability to have the forward footing and link any animal welfare reforms to the supply of it’s meat has now gone in the imperious handling by the Government, and Indonesia now has issued it’s own requirements, which refer to international standards.
– However slowly the MLA was working, Australia’s privileged and tenuous role of being involved to improve animal welfare has been lost. Lost while there was still clearly a lot of work to be done.
– They are unlikely to source cattle from any other country interested in mentoring animal welfare as Australia was the only country to do so.
– Indonesia is unable to make the complete transition to boxed beef even if Australia developed additional processing overnight. Lack of electricity and refrigeration are not fixed by the click of a mouse.
– Indonesia will be forced to look afield for other options. Cattle from South American countries will now make a much longer trip if sourced. Even if it takes cattle this year unless this diplomatic rift can be healed it will certainly look for it next year.
– The question is always the same if it is not Australia who then, and will they be forced to accept vaccinated livestock from countries that are not FMD free in order to feed their own people. Carnage in Indonesia and Australia. Win-win situation isn’t it?
Indonesia reviews it permits on Thursday, the permits to lift the cattle waiting in Australia’s ports will expire. A visit by Kevin Rudd on the 8th July maybe too late. Unless it receives very high level diplomatic reassurance, Indonesia is very likely to not give any permits to Australia. In the logistics of the Northern Australian dry season it is not a situation that animal welfare will come back from. I am sure you also have been disturbed by the level of racism directed to our closest neighbor and hatred directed to those people you met in the bush. I am not so naive to know it wouldn’t have only been fan mail arriving at your door, and I especially have not been appreciative of what the short and long term consequences are for my family, so apologies if at any time your name gets taken in vain in my writing.
People in the remote areas are hampered by limited access and understanding of internet, television and poor mobile coverage. We are starting to get the message out there but many of us are School of The Air parents who teach during the day, to be honest I did have a bit have an idea that Twitter was more than what the birds did, but my husband didn’t. Many pastoralists can fly planes, drive road trains, lead musters, fix anything yet faced with the internet or microwave are most likely to reach for a hammer. I have been forced by your show out of my isolation to learn more about my industry beyond an MLA brochure, and I agree change needed to happen. The change we both want is in real danger of being lost if you do not speak up to keep the supply chain to the best abattoirs and dialogue regarding animal welfare open. A quick scan of all the media, including the ABC, reveals that in this world of short attention span where 90% of people clicked their mouses and did not need to give a second thought to the cattle’s welfare in Australia. The fact the ongoing welfare of the cattle has now been forgotten highlights one thing, pastoralists are still responsible for the welfare of all the cattle, this week, next week and every week after. It is why we choose to send our sale cattle to Indonesia we know they are fed better than in Australia, it is a short distance by road and boat, and it ensures the best welfare outcome for all cattle. Please speak out now, and as loudly as before, that there are several world class feedlots with closed abattoir systems that stun that cattle could go to now.
A week ago I would have said the problems in Indonesia can be fixed, but watching this present tragedy I am aware that with each passing hour, not only will the window of positive change in Indonesia be lost, but Australia’s animal welfare will sink with it. If you would like assistance with gathering information regarding the feedlots who do comply, I am happy to assist smooth waters. If you could please confirm receipt of this email, would be appreciated.”
Kind regards, Christine Glenn Pilbara WA
Tags: Australian Beef Industry, Conservation and the environment