Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern Australia and Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I want to thank my colleague the member for Blair, who has just spoken, for cutting the time of his contribution to enable me to speak on this legislation. The National Cattle Disease Eradication Account Amendment Bill 2006 amends the National Cattle Disease Eradication Account Act to enable funds held in the National Cattle Disease Eradication Account—an account held and operated by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry—to be transferred to the Cattle Disease Contingency Fund, or CDCF, an account held by Cattle Disease Contingency Fund Pty Ltd.

Since 1991—and this date is important to note when I come to the discussion about the campaign on tuberculosis and brucellosis shortly—the cattle and buffalo industries have been contributing through levies to the National Cattle Disease Eradication Account. That money was raised for initiatives to combat brucellosis and tuberculosis. The most recent initiative was the Tuberculosis Freedom Assurance Program, or TFAP.

I am aware of this program simply because of its impact upon the Northern Territory cattle and buffalo industries. We should be in no doubt about the trauma placed on many producers as a result of this campaign, which was developed in the early nineties to eradicate brucellosis and tuberculosis from cattle and buffalo in Australia. This had a dramatic impact upon the cattle and buffalo numbers over a period of time. Whilst moneys were being paid out to the buffalo and cattle industries, many producers were left short. In some cases, smaller owner-operators found it very difficult to sustain their operations in the cattle industry as a result of the costs incurred. They did not believe that they had received adequate compensation for the eradication of brucellosis and tuberculosis from their herds, and such eradication often meant the destruction of large herds of cattle.

One particular property that I am aware of, Nutwood Downs in the Northern Territory, is owned by the Dunbars. They had a significant cost to bear as a result of this campaign. I think they, like others in the industry, found it very difficult over a period of time to sustain their activities in the industry as a result of the costs that were incurred. Be that as it may, they are still in the industry. They are still producing very fine cattle off their property, as are other cattle producers in the Northern Territory. But the buffalo industry is very different. The impact on the buffalo industry was very dramatic to the point where the number of commercial buffalo producers was reduced substantially as a result of this campaign.

The Tuberculosis Freedom Assurance Program finishes on 31 December. At the request of the cattle and buffalo industries, the remaining funds, approximately $13½ million, will be transferred to the more broadly focused Cattle Disease Contingency Fund—a trust fund established to fund such programs. The Cattle Disease Contingency Fund Pty Ltd is a private company jointly owned by the Cattle Council of Australia, the Australian Lot Feeders Association and Animal Health Australia, itself a private company owned by industry and state, territory and Commonwealth governments. Since 2002, cattle industry levy moneys have been paid into this account. The member for Corio, the shadow minister, raised governance issues which we have some concerns about in relation to this program. We know that moneys which were collected for a specific purpose will now, with the agreement of industry groups, be used for other closely related purposes. We support this legislation. I do so because I am very much aware of the importance of the cattle industry to the Northern Territory economy.

The peak body for the cattle industry in the Northern Territory, the Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Association, represents around 98 per cent of the Northern Territory cattle herd, from small family operations to large corporate organisations. I have some figures from the association. Their members managed a land mass in excess of 620,000 square kilometres in 2005 and produce 532,000 high-quality cattle each year. Over 212,000 head of cattle are delivered directly to the port of Darwin for export to the Asia-Pacific region, and a further 320,000 head of cattle are transported and sold to all states and territories in Australia. We know that this is of tremendous importance to the Northern Territory economy. The pastoral industry generates over $330 million directly and another $180 million indirectly for the Territory economy.

But there are animal health issues which remain a concern for the cattle industry. The biggest animal health concern for producers in the Northern Territory is botulism. Producers in the Alice Springs region are also concerned about lice, and Top End producers are concerned about buffalo fly. The most common disease that producers vaccinate for is botulism, with a smaller number of producers in the Top End, Katherine and the Barkley region vaccinating for vibriosis. Based on producer estimates—and I am relying here on information from the Department of Primary Industry, Fisheries and Mines in the Northern Territory—carrying capacities across the Northern Territory are expected to rise through increases in station infrastructure. Estimated increases are 29 per cent by 2009 and 54 per cent by 2014, with the largest increases in carrying capacity relative to area being in the Top End due to planned improved pasture development on already cleared land.

There are other pests, of course, which concern the cattle industry. Animals such as wild dogs and pigs have a very substantial impact on the industry. Wild dogs were named as the feral animal receiving the greatest amount of control because of the impact they were having. The average cost of control of feral animals in the Northern Territory in 2004 was $4,928 for each property.

We know the importance of this industry to the Northern Territory and Australian economies. What we need to appreciate is that we cannot allow that industry to be devastated in the way it could potentially have been as a result of the brucellosis and tuberculosis infestation that occurred in the late eighties. While there was an infestation, we reached an agreement for our producers to be able to export to the United States market—if my memory serves me correctly—and we needed to ensure that our herd was clean. As a result, we embarked upon a massive program for the cattle industry right across the Australian community.

Just as we are concerned about brucellosis and tuberculosis, we need to be aware that there are other exotic diseases which could potentially decimate the Australian cattle industry. We need to be very aware of that. We need to be supporting producers and producer organisations and we need to be supporting government agencies who are involved in assisting in managing those threats.

I want to commend to the chamber the work which is being done by all sections of the cattle industry in the Northern Territory and also the work which is being done by the relevant department in the Northern Territory government, the Department of Primary Industry, Fisheries and Mines.

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