dickie, No it said development not investment.

personally i would have said trade development was indeed promotion spending, unless you feel some of the animal welfare expenditure falls under promotion. Unfortunately for your argument the $600 000 was not a figure plucked from a hat, but from the report as yabby said.
I have no livestock, and consequently no concern about MLA membership or how they spend the money. I can however find and read their budgets, and the $30m conspiracy theory is crushed by the large number of expenses covered under the umbrella of Marketing in a very brief 5 year summary. Basically everthing other than R&D has been classified as marketing.

Have a go at agriculture if you choose, just remember you depend on it every day of your life.
consumers don't have much of a choice do they? I doubt the population would survive resorting to hunting and gathering, the resources won't last at current people numbers.
We have had abundant food for so long and so cheaply that it has now become a mere product in the shop, it's importance taken for granted. Even the producer held to ridicule.

No food no life. How important can it get?

I haven't been to southern WA so I can't comment on your portrayal of it's ag systems, but I'm sure you'll provide that overwhelming evidence, seeing that we all take each others word here so highly and all

Hi all
Yabby, let me assure you that my taxes constitute a very substantial part of my salary. And I'm afraid that there is no getting around the minimal contribution to GDP of the agricultural sector; education, (like other sectors) however, while it receives funding (nowhere near what the poor struggling farmers receive in taxpayers' largesse) it is not not free to anyone, and contributes substantially to export dollars.

As for hairdressers, shop workers, and other sectors, Rojo, at least they are not draining the welfare trough as 24,000 farmers are. What is it going to take for them to realize that they're not very good at what they do, if they have to claim the dole in such numbers? I'm all for helping the disadvantaged out, but not when they're hooning around in gas guzzling vehicles worth twice as much or more than mine, and they are are less productive in the workforce than I am. Nor do I regard SUVs in the cities as status symbols, they are menaces.

I read that link. So one guy is doing all right - either he is smarter than the rest of you, or you are crying poor with little justification. Either way, (most of) the rest of us are expected to earn our living, declare what we earn and be penalized by Centrelink for that, but not 24,000 farmers.

We, in fact, are pretty self sufficient with regard to food, most of what we eat we grow, so I think we would survive reasonably well. Maybe a bit inconvenient, but that's as bad as it would get.

Rojo, I'm with Dickie also about the total disregard of livestock farmers for the soil erosion and environmental degradation (not to mention the animal abuse) which results from their greed. And you have brought the growing public backlash about how you people do what you do upon yourselves as the community is better informed.

But we digress. The argument here is exactly how much in taxpayers' dollars is MLA REALLY using to promote its brutal trade in live animals?

Cheers
Nicky

Nicky, your posts are nearly as melodramatic as those of Dickie. Never mind
the reality, emotional rhetoric will make you girls feel better :)

Something like 90 billion $ is handed out in social welfare in Australia.
Something like 8 million are recipients of some kind of social welfare.
If you have a problem with the last Govt helping a few farmers through
a drought, frankly it’s a piddlefart amount, compared to what you dish
out to yourselves, there is suburbia.

If you’d prefer to see those small farmers in the Eastern States go broke
and corporate farming move in, ok fair enough. That will most likely
happen anyhow, as more super fund money gets ploughed into agriculture.

I can assure you however, they FOCUS on the bottom line, they also
know how to lobby, unlike most small farmers now, where what they
do is more tied up with their lifestyle and a love of their land.

Corporate farming is about $, if that is what you prefer, so be it.

Hecs fees don’t pay for education Nicky, they make a small contribution
to you running your show there. Education is still largely bankrolled
by us taxpayers. Billions are ploughed in every year, you certainly don’t
pay your way. I don’t have a problem with that, just when you start
to crap on about subsidies to agriculture, lets get things straight.
Your wages depend on our subsidies.

Yes Dickie, we are growing crops in a bloody desert. Through clever
technology, with new conservation tillage methods, grain yields
are rising, soil carbon levels are rising, we are doing more with
less water, far more sustainably then ever before. Its all happening
in WA, the rest of Australia is now copying what was pioneered
over here.

Fact is that the world can’t go back to the hunter/gatherer lifestyle
that you think would be more suitable for our environment. Its not
farmers who created a global population boom, go and see your
old employer about that one.

The more you try to bring farmers down the more power to the miners and etc.

That’s less land to run free range farmers like the real farmers do.

The less free range farmers the less land. The less land and free range farmers the more cramped feed lots and barbaric cruelty.

Be careful for what you wish for.

Regarding MLA and Livecorp 'So what'. We have all known they are a bunch of crooks with Australian Government doing their deals with USAto ensure cruelty contiunes.

Let’s move on.

If you truly want to help the Animals then we must not attack the farmers. This is where peta AA aL and pale and RSPCA stand miles apart.

Your leadership has been all wrong in some of these departments.

It’s been a big mistake to protest meat and carry on rolling around the ground in shopping centers with pretend blood etc.

Now I have shown you the links from ABA and you can see there is a difference.

There are some reasonable farmers out there who would really support Animal Welfare.

However under your leader ship you are putting distance between those good farmers and animal welfare groups.

I have said before we will fix the case but you’re not interested.

Nor are you interested in establishing free range co joint farms to slaughter here to compete with live which is even more important than the case. YES IT IS!

So wow we just went full circle and we are back to
Pale having to do both.!

I know you guys think of AA as the all mighty God. Yup they have done a lot of good- But nobody knows everything and it’s their way or the highway.
Well girls it’s going to be the highway for a long time for these animals if people don’t start to listen.

It’s not Australia you need worry about. It’s the huge multi trillion dollar Halal trade world wide.

Now we can either STAND up or Demand these plants are built HERE or kiss this goodbye forever.

The following are excepts from a fullsome response I've received from another country on the inhumane treatment of its animals.

It is an indictment on Australia when other countries are sufficiently civilised to respond to written objections of animal cruelty and one's own prime minister, politicians and premiers are too ignorant to respond to appeals from its own people.

This reinforces the assumption that the live export trade in Australia is indeed a cartel of tyrants, propped up by a corrupt and inhumane government.

"Dear Sir/Madam:

"Thank you for your communication regarding the inhumane handling of cattle at Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Company. We appreciate the opportunity to update you on how the Agency is responding to the situation.

"I want to assure you that USDA and FSIS are taking these allegations very seriously.

"FSIS and the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) are working with the USDA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) as they conduct an investigation into this matter. The USDA investigation is ongoing, and additional actions will be taken as warranted.

"FSIS also enforces the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, which requires that all livestock be handled and slaughtered in a humane way.

"We place a very high priority on ensuring that animals are treated humanely at all times. We have taken prompt actions. A summary of those actions is listed below.

"January 30, 2008—USDA indefinitely suspended Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Company as a supplier to Federal nutrition assistance programs. In addition, an administrative hold was placed on all Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Company products that were in or destined for Federal food and nutrition programs.

"February 1, 2008—Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Company voluntarily stopped slaughter operations.

"February 4, FSIS issued Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Company a Notice of Suspension because the establishment failed to maintain and implement controls to prevent the inhumane handling and slaughter of animals at the facility.

"etc.etc."

I shall now respond to that letter, outlining the disgraceful inactions of an Australian government which has given carte blanche to Emanuel Exports and the Middle East to continue on with their gruesome treatment of Australia's defenceless livestock.

Dickie
Lets not loose the tree for the forest here. I am sure there is cruelty in some USA abattoirs as there is in Australia.

The moral of the story is really very simple. Until Animal Welfare minded people get involved in tnhe trade it will contiune.

The aim is to stop live Animal ships and slaughter here.

From there try to improve Animals welfare every single year.

Its all we can hope for because if we protest animals being slaughtered for food we will loose - its very simple.

I understand you do not approve but tell me in all honesty- Got any better ideas that will actually make a difference no matter how small.?
The more we sit on our hands refusing to help open abattoirs in Australia.
The more animals are being loaded on ships.

We are well past it now but for a long time we tried to invite others who care about Animals to give a hand.

Had they had done that it would have made a huge difference.

No I am not having a go at you just pointing out the facts.

re the WA matter we are taking advise and if and when we do something it wont be a media circus.

As far as the MLA and livourpe are concerned it not worth your effort because its well documented if you read the ABA links etc etc.