ABIF Chairman Gunthorpe hits back at BJD claims

We refer to the article by Howard Smith headed “State’s BJD control is Queensland issue” on page 5 of the January 23 edition of The North Queensland Register.

There are a number of errors in his article that rather than clarifying the issues tend to mislead your reader.

While I sign this letter in my current role as Chairman of the Australian Beef Industry Foundation, my involvement with the Queensland Beef Industry goes back to the 1980s when four processing companies joined to form Australia Meat Holdings. I was the inaugural CEO of the business. Our management team succeeded in changing the business culture in beef processing in Queensland to the benefit of all stakeholders, and provided the platform for continuing business improvement, and for maintaining Australia’s competitive advantage in the global beef trade.

In those early years many friendships were established and continue today. Greater certainty was given to producers in turning off their stock to our abattoirs and our people had greater certainty of employment. My involvement goes back 30 years and a significant part of my career is my “stake in the Queensland beef industry”. We therefore reject Mr Smith’s suggestion that our efforts are “not apparent and helpful”.

BJD is not a significant disease in the beef industry. The United States Department of Agriculture suggest it affects about 0.9 per cent of their animals (including dairy cattle) while in 2001 Animal Health Australia together with the Cattle Council and the Australian Lot Feeders Association tested 13,000 beef cattle and only found four cases or an incidence of 0.025pc.

Clinical signs of the disease only occur in older animals even though they are likely to have contracted the disease while calves. The disease lies dormant in the animal until it reaches at least four or five years of age. Therefore animals reared for slaughter or live export as younger stock will not exhibit signs of BJD and their product will go to market, or be exported live without concern.

BJD is transmitted in the herd by faeces. Fortunately a hot dry weather is a major destroyer of the disease on the ground and so the northern parts of Australia enjoy a benefit in fighting its spread compared to southern Australia. This helps to explain why the incidence of BJD in Western Australia, Northern Territory and Queensland is low.

Mr Smith argues “the Australian beef sector, of which Queensland is a key contributor, exports beef cattle, live and boxed, to 127 markets across the globe, of which 70 have BJD requirements.” Unfortunately he fails to point out to your readers that none of the 70 countries have any BJD requirement on the import of boxed beef. Only five countries have BJD requirements for the import of slaughter cattle and these do not include Indonesia and the Philippines, Australia’s major trading partners in the export of live cattle.

We are concerned with Mr. Smith’s argument that “Of the 14,000 beef-producing properties farms in Queensland, there are currently 53 quarantined properties.” He continues: “Given the sheer size of the non-quarantined properties, AgForce is morally obligated to maintain Queensland as a Protected Zone.” Well what about the financial ruin caused to those 53 properties from maintaining this head-in-the-sand policy. In addition to these herds another 200 herds were quarantined many of whom suffered financial damage.

All Queenslanders defend the underdog. They do not stand by and say they are morally right and hang the effect on others. Yes Mr. Smith argues for compensation but it has not been delivered due to the failings in the scheme. This is despite Minister McVeigh’s promise that “no individual would carry the burden of the government BJD policy”. All we seek is fair compensation for those financially damaged by the government’s BJD policy.

An example of those affected by BJD is a young couple with three children who purchased two bulls from Rockley Brahman Stud. In November 2012 they had their property quarantined. Both parents are working off farm to supplement their income while they build their farm business. They have asked that their name not be used because like others they are concerned about the stigma that attaches to their business from the quarantining of their property. Both bulls were killed and subsequently found to be clear of BJD.

Unable to find agistment due to BJD, they had to supplementary feed their stock at significant cost. To add salt in the wounds they also lost stock and feed in the Australia Day floods last year. They are now out of quarantine but are still struggling to meet their creditors and bank. They made a claim under the scheme but it was rejected by QRAA. They appealed and have not heard from QRAA for three months other than to say they have received the appeal. As always there is personal stress in these circumstances. All this is the result of their innocently purchasing quality bulls from a leading stud to improve the genetics in their herd.

Now this couple – one of the 14,000 beef-producing farms in Queensland – have had their world turned upside down by BJD. If them, why not you? All beef-producing farms in Queensland should be afraid that they could be next. They will then suffer the same fate. All this business risk so we can defend the government’s Protected Zone policy.

There is no good reason for Queensland to maintain the Protected Zone status concerning a disease that is minor in incident and could better be managed on farm in the same way our producers today manage other more common and damaging diseases such as pestivirus. The financial and personal stress caused to those who innocently contract the disease on their property is not warranted. The ability of the 14,000 beef-producing farms to export live animals and beef will not be impacted whether the Protected Zone status is maintained or not.

If the 14,000 through AgForce still want to maintain the Protected Zone status, then they should be asked to support the estimated 200 affected farms with financial support. This could be accommodated through a new BJD transaction levy in much the same way the Biosecurity fund will be collected from July this year. The latter is to be 50 cents a transaction but this will be well below that needed for compensation to BJD affected properties even with dollar-for-dollar contribution from the Queensland Government. If all properties impacted were paid proper compensation then the total would be close to $70 million. The BJD levy would need to be set at $2.50 per transaction to clear these claims over three years and it would need to be a Federal levy to remove the ability to opt-out of the scheme. Government loans will be needed to meet the immediate requirements of the 200 producers.

There is a need for an office to co-ordinate the applications of those affected by BJD. They should visit and consult with the farmers in their preparation of the application. They should be a point of contact between the scheme and the farmer. These people still face extreme hardship and if the policy continues the list will only grow as other positives are found. DPI does contact the properties and does give advice on herd management, but they are not appropriate to provide the sort of advice needed. The office needs to act on behalf of the farmer and use their expertise to ensure as painless a process as possible.

It is time for the silent majority to realise the devastation AgForce’s policy of support for the Protected Zone status is having on the affected producers. There is a better way. BJD should be managed on farm in the same way it is in some other states of Australia.

We support the call by Mr Smith for the scheme to be changed to remove the six month in quarantine eligibility requirement. We also support his more general call for the scheme to be extended so all “producers suffering hardship should be able to claim from the scheme”. In this way the Queensland beef industry will realise Minister McVeigh’s promise that “no individual would carry the burden of the government BJD policy”.

Sincerely

John Gunthorpe

Chairman

Australian Beef Industry Foundation