BEEF people are seething at the Commonwealth's approach to reaching agreement over compensation to cattle businesses ripped apart by the unlawful 2011 live export ban to Indonesia.
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Revelations that the Commonwealth's offer was just $215 million, compared to the $2 billion sought, has left the industry furious.
The feeling is now widespread that stalling tactics are being employed by a current Federal Government that includes ministers who were also in the Gillard Government that shut down the trade in 2011, a decision that has now been ruled to be invalid and capricious by the Federal Court.
Beef industry leaders including Australia's peak farming body, the National Farmers Federation, the Northern Territory Cattlemen's Association and the Australian Farmers' Fighting Fund have accused the Commonwealth of behaving in a manner far from that of a model litigant.
They've also made it clear that drawing out the negotiations will not 'wear down' members of the class action.
NFF went as far as to label the Commonwealth's moves as 'bullying', while AFFF called it 'atrocious behaviour'.
NFF president Fiona Simson said the stalling would not lead to producers accepting a lesser amount.
"This is not a game, this is people's livelihoods. We have ministers in cabinet now, who were also in cabinet at the time of the ban 12 years ago.You would think they would want to right this wrong," she said.
"We want to close this unfortunate chapter in agriculture's book and see that these producers are treated fairly and paid fairly."
AFFF chairman Hugh Nivison it was an appalling situation that 12 years after the ban, and three years after it was found by a Federal Court judge to be invalid thus paving the way for compensation, most of those who suffered have not seen a cent.
He said this was the first time the AFFF had been involved in a class action, so there was no precedent to compare it to, but that the Commonwealth's negotiation tactics had disappointed beyond belief.
"There are very real financial losses suffered and the fighting fund has been collecting evidence of losses that significantly exceed this offer," he said.
"The Commonwealth is effectively refusing to engage. There are members of the current government who were in cabinet in 2011 when the ban was made and they are effectively trying to undo the Federal Court decision."
Ms Simson said the $215m offer was an insult to those producers whose livelihoods were shattered in 2011.
"These cattle families have been put through the wringer time and time again. First with the ban, then through the legal process to fight it and now the government has finally come out with a figure so lowball it's hurtful," she said.
"Rubbing more salt in the wound was the deadline the Government gave producers to accept or reject the offer. Giving producers less than one month to respond when the government has taken more than a decade to provide an offer feels like bullying."
Shan Goodwin
Shan Goodwin steers ACM’s national coverage of the beef industry. Shan has worked as a journalist for 30 years, the majority of that with agricultural publications. She spent many years as The Land’s North Coast reporter and has visited beef properties and stations throughout the country and overseas. She treats all breeds equally. Contact 0427686187. E: s.goodwin@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Shan Goodwin steers ACM’s national coverage of the beef industry. Shan has worked as a journalist for 30 years, the majority of that with agricultural publications. She spent many years as The Land’s North Coast reporter and has visited beef properties and stations throughout the country and overseas. She treats all breeds equally. Contact 0427686187. E: s.goodwin@austcommunitymedia.com.au
