LEVY payers have given Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) an overwhelming mandate to continue on its current path with a majority of stakeholders rejecting a call to wind-up the producer company last week.
Voting by proxy or in person at the annual general meeting in Tasmania, beef, sheep and goat meat producers rejected a resolution from agitator group, the Australian Beef Association (ABA), seeking to dissolve the service delivery company.
The big 84.7 per cent vote against the motion was the largest defeat of an ABA-driven motion seen in the past 12 years, since MLA came into existence.
MLA chairman, Don Heatley, said he was reassured by the show of faith from members.
He said MLA would now continue its job of supporting the industry by creating demand for red meat products and developing tools and technologies to help them improve the efficiency of production.
While there was little in the way of new content in ABA’s appeal attached to this year’s resolution, greater attention was focused on comparisons between Australian producers’ share of the retail dollar.
ABA chairman, Brad Bellinger, said for 13 years MLA had endeavoured to introduce policy to directly lift the income of cattle producers but no adequate performance review of MLA had been conducted since its inception.
“The Brazilian beef producer pays no levy, has no NLIS and no LPA. The US producer has a $1 levy, no NLIS or LPA. US producers receive $2.43/kg for feeder steers, while Australian equivalents are on $1.90/kg,” he said.
“Australian cattle are attracting the lowest prices in the developed world, while we also have the highest regulatory burden.”
Mr Bellinger also criticised MLA’s actions in December in “giving evidence at the Senate inquiry in support of the Federal Government’s decision to allow importation of beef into Australia from BSE-affected countries”.
But his suggestion that an expert witness at the Senate inquiry had indicated that 10pc of Australia’s beef supply could come from the US if the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) protocol was lifted, was strongly refuted.
Cattle Council of Australia member, Justin MacDonnell, emphasised the reference in question to “10pc” was used as a hypothetical figure only, designed to illustrate the extent of disease risk to humans “if imports were to reach a certain component of overall domestic beef consumption”.
“Mr Bellinger already knows that,” he said.
Other ABA issues included the lack of transparency and accountability in MLA industry affairs, the perceived inefficiency and lack of market impact of the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS), and lack of evidence of benefit to industry from earlier research programs.
But Victorian cattleman, John Gunthorpe, said ABA’s constant challenges against MLA had gone on long enough, and raised the prospect of a “vexatious litigation” claim against the activist group.
Tasmanian, Gerald Archer, opposed the ABA resolution because the rebel group consistently failed to offer any alternatives.
