FYI
Nicky blame farmers=

ABA Questions the Silence of MLA on the ACCC Grocery Inquiry, Welcomes the Senate Inquiry into Meat Marketing and calls for a Royal Commission into the Rorts
Published: 15 Apr 2008
News ID: 10648
ABA Chairman, Brad Bellinger today said, In the midst of the most searching ACCC inquiry into Supermarket dominance of Australian retailing MLA, the producer funded meat industry body, has said nothingno submission, no releases nothing.

Whilst media across Australia featured ABA submission to the ACCC Inquiry, Rural Press followed the MLA line by publishing virtually nothing.

Mr Bellinger said, The NFF submission to the ACCC is a featherweight one reflecting the long, close association between senior NFF officials and supermarket chiefs.

ABA presented a very detailed submission, which showed that the US consumer is paying about half what the Australian consumer is paying for his/her meat, yet the Australian producer is presently getting 25-40% less than the US producer - with no subsidies involved! ABA research into the UK and Irish margins also have highlighted that both the Australian producer and consumer are being rorted.

He continued, MLA uses millions of dollars of producer levy money to advertise meat for supermarkets. MLA annually justifies these large levies ($5 per beast sold) by pointing out their consultant's figures showing increased expenditure on meat.'

The producer is a three time loser -he gets less for his cattle each year, he pays the large levy (plus much more for the new ear tag system) and then has to pay more for his beef at a retail outlet.'

Mr Bellinger continued, ' ABA welcomes the announcement of a Senate Inquiry into the Meat industry. The last inquiry in 2002, made eight recommendations including to make the so-called Peak Councils more accountable but the National Party Ministers refused to implement any of them. Now the Senate is trying again.

ABA
........Royal Commission can get to the bottom of the massive rip off.

'ABA is calling for a Royal Commission with powers as broad as the last one, conducted by Judge Woodward in 1982', Mr Bellinger recommended.

Nicky, the real red herring, is you trying to mix up religious beliefs with meat
production and consumption. They are separate issues. Other people have
different cultures and customs. Much as you want your culture to be respected,
when people come here, clearly it is their business when it comes to their cultures
and religious beliefs. In Australia I would be thrown in jail for marrying more then
one woman, in the ME it would not be a problem. Your opinion that one is right
and the other is wrong, is simply to do with the fact of how you were raised. Had
you been born in say Iraq, you might well be a devout Muslim :)

Why on earth would you want to deny my sheep the happy lives that they lead, chomping pasture and admiring the scenery, for most of their lives? Ok throw
in a bit of sex now and then, they would lead far less stressful lives then you do!

Herbivores grazing pasture is the most natural thing in the world. Sadly your lack
of knowledge about farming and soils is why you make such ignorant comments.
WA soils are far more suited to a crop-pasture rotation, then to continuos cropping.
Legumes put nitrogen back into soils, sheep are the best thing for controlling weeds
and cutting down on artificial fertilisers and pesticides. Why not farm with nature,
rather then against nature?

Global demand for meat is huge, most of it factory farmed. Ours is the opposite,
naturally produced, a win-win situation for livestock and farmers. Would you rather
have had no life, just because the worms are going to chew you up one day?

I sold some lambs locally two years ago and was paid 35$ for them. The same lambs
in Victoria were worth 110$ to the farmer there. The same lambs in the US, were
worth 200$ to the grower there. All these lambs went to the same market by the
way. So is the problem with me the grower, or with the way that our meat is marketed and distributed?

Hi all
Yabby, once again, you attribute characteristics to me that you know nothing about. What makes you think I HAVE any religious beliefs? I have certain moral convictions which clearly state that publicly flogging and stoning female rape victims is wrong; do you regard that as nothing more than a "cultural incongruence"?

You also took me a bit too seriously when I suggested that you farm crops/vegetables and export them instead of animals, but let it pass. As it happens, I read about the agriculture you describe in a journal yesterday. I'm sure your sheep lead relatively happy (albeit very short) lives - after you've probably mulesed and castrated them without anaesthesia and before you load them onto trucks for who knows what sort of journey to what sort of slaughter. Now, if you can tell those of us who know nothing how we could campaign about Trisolfen, and whom, I think you would find that most of us, sheltered lives and ignorance notwithstanding, would be glad to do so. I would especially like to know how it works, how well it works and how long it works for though. Never let it be said that we don't care.

The meat industry in WA is a more difficult problem, I'm afraid.

PALE, I suspect it is highly unlikely that there will be a Royal Commission into the activities of MLA, there are too many politicians too close to it.

Cheers
Nicky

Nicky said
PALE, I suspect it is highly unlikely that there will be a Royal Commission into the activities of MLA, there are too many politicians too close to it.
pale comments

While agreeing with your copmment Nicky it is people like brad who know what they are talking about.
My reason for posting that was to point out that only by working together with people who fully understand the industry and what is going on will anything change.

Your not going to like this next comment but it has to be said.
Sadly Nicky there has been far too much demage done between 'some' 'most' animal welfare groups to ever be invited to join them in a united public plea for a Royal Commission.
However on the other hand that doesnt stop members of the public writing to lobby for a Royal Commission either.

It also I would 'hope' me make some rethink their positions if they seriously wish to succeed in bring this whole issue to the public.

The average member of the public would indeed stand up for the local abattoir ownders farmers etc against the vetted interests and favours tossed out by MLA for live export shipping agents etc.

However where you guys get knocked out so easily is by your quite clear anti muslim anti farmer position.

I have already addressed on the other thread to you about the Government being driven by the industry. I explained to you that the industry consists of muslims and Farmers by large and that this is the area that the alternative must come.

I know you mean well for the Animals but Nicky your policies must change big time and in a hurry.
Again this is why we work with RSPCA QLD. We are a main stream bunch who want animals slaughtered as close to origen as possible in the kindest method possible.
However we need the help of the muslim and farmers to do it.
So your people bagging them is just plain stupid.

Hi all
PALE, you really are a hard case. Just because I, and some animal welfare organizations disagree with you does not mean we have to "re-think our positions". I, and they, simply disagree with you and that is that. You do it your way, and they will do it theirs, as I will. Nor does any of have to be "invited" to call for a Royal Commission if they or I were to choose to join such a call.

Just because you happen to believe that this person from ABA "knows what he is talking about" does not mean that other animal welfare groups or I agree with that either. Nor have they, or I, expressed anti-Muslim or anti-farmer positions, merely (in my case, I do not speak for others) that I dislike certain activities that some Muslims and some farmers are involved in.

As for the RSPCA, it is tending to bring itself undone in every state without any help from anyone. I have already outlined why.

You need to learn to respect the views of others and the ways others choose to go about doing what they do.

Nicky

Nicky, what you are, is extremely fortunate to be living in one of the most secular
countries on earth, namely Australia. People are the product of their genes and
their environment, so had your parents been devout JWs or Bretheren followers,
who brainwashed you as a 5 year old, you might be quite a different person then
you are today. What we can show, is that 95% of people follow the religion that
they were brought up with.

The struggle between the religious and the secular has been going on for centuries.
In the West, we have had our wars etc. The Catholic Church used to burn people
like me, for expressing our opinions :(

In the ME that struggle still goes on, with the same divisions as we have here. I
recently saw a survey, about how many people in Iran, actually attend a mosque each
week. It was around 30%, lower then the number of Americans who go to church.
Head for the US bible belt and you will find as much religious extremism, as you
find anywhere in the ME. Even on OLO we have our religious extremists, thankfully
they don’t run the Govt!

As to Trisolfen, the woman who developed it, you could google her name, sounds
a pretty reasonable type, perhaps you can contact her for all the info that you want.

So what if sheep go on a truck? Humans travel on trucks too.

Yes we eat sheep. Some as teenagers, some go into pies etc, before they get too
old and die of old age. That is kinder then what we to humans, ie. let them die
slowly as we watch. Fact is that only so many sheep can enjoy the scenery at one
time, too many is not sustainable. Yes their lives end, so will yours, if you are
hit by a proverbial bus. That’s life. That does not mean that you haven’t enjoyed
your life to this point. It’s the same with sheep.