Janelle Saffin (Page, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to continue a statement I prepared on the beef industry representation I talked to in an adjournment on 16 May. I continue: … and preserve jobs for Australian meatworkers. Producers are frustrated at a lack of transparency and accountability about where their levy funds have been spent. A 2011 Productivity Commission inquiry into rural R&D corporations heard that of approximately 4,000 R&D projects funded by the MLA only 260 had produced a final report. In order to justify its lack of transparency and accountability, the MLA uses commercial-in-confidence caveats, giving producers the impression that they are paying for projects, the outcomes of which they will not be privy to. A 2002 Senate inquiry criticised the industry's lack of transparency and made recommendations for reform; however, few have been implemented. Members want genuinely independent and meaningful audits rather than what they see as superficial assurances.

There are also widespread concerns of insufficient measures in place to avoid the perception of a conflict of interest, with the MLA distributing federal government grants and farmers levies to companies with which its directors are linked. An analysis of MLA annual reports for the past eight years showed that $66 million in research funds went to companies or institutions associated with its board members. Greg Brown, immediate past president of the CCA, says the MLA board selection process lacks independence and he pushed to change it for years. A selection committee provides recommendations to levy payers on which candidates should be voted onto the board. The selection committee comprises a cattle producer, a sheep producer and a lot feeder; three members appointed by peak councils and three incumbent directors. Greg Brown said this process gives directors the greatest degree of influence, yet he could see no reason why they should be involved.

The MLA's voting structure is undemocratic: the bigger your herd, the more votes you get, effectively giving control of the industry to a group of large corporations, some foreign owned. In 2008 the average Northern Rivers cattle farmer with 350 head of stock had less than 1,600 MLA votes, whereas Swift Australia, the world's largest meat company, had an entitlement of 504,045 votes. The MLA has 47,500 members and many are uncomfortable with large corporations and foreign competitors apparently being able to dominate the MLA board and influence the Australian beef industry.

The whole industry structure is dysfunctional, producers say. There are too many peak councils—the Red Meat Advisory Council, Meat and Livestock Australia, the Australian Lot Feeders Association, the Cattle Council of Australia, the Australian Meat Processor Corporation, the Australian Meat Industry Council and others, as well as the state based organisations and other groups, all making representations to government with no united vision of the industry's future. As Luke Bowen, the head of the Northern Territory Cattlemen's Association has said: 'The system isn't providing a singular voice to represent us at a national level.'

The majority of producers I meet are over 60, heavily in debt and feel broken by this. Younger generations are not taking over their farms for many of the reasons I have outlined. With the state the industry is in, there soon will be few left in it. The risk exists that one of Australia's most important resources, our prime agricultural land, will eventually be sold to the highest bidders. Independent producers and processors say the status quo is regulation by conglomerates, not self-regulation. They are asking the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry to intervene on their behalf. To begin an independent review of the beef industry is needed, especially of the MLA and its R&D performance, starting with the recommendations of the 2011 Productivity Commission report. The minister can exercise power through the terms set out in the MOU between the government and MLA in relation to matched R&D funding which binds MLA to act ethically, efficiently and effectively. Self-regulation is currently failing beef producers.

In June 2012 I hosted a meeting of a broad cross-section of the beef industry in my office in Lismore. Local producers attended along with key reps and people from around Australia. The minister said if the industry asked him to act he would be able to undertake certain things. The minister did his bit at the time and the industry reps did not do their bit.

A quality meat-grading system would also bolster the industry. A meat industry strategic plan forecast in 1996 showed that if a consumer oriented beef-grading system were introduced resulting in every person in Australia eating just one extra serving of beef every three weeks it would provide $1.2 billion annually. (Time expired)