Ok so let me sum it up so far: First we have our fearless GoldCoast
animal libbers, they know, they have seen the old antiquated 60
Minutes data, it must still all be true. They will stop the evil
exporters!

Then we have our resident veggie bureaucrat, who knows how to lobby
but doesent seem to know the first thing about the meat industry,
the WA situation in particular, but she doesent seem to think that
this really matters. Wage subsidies will solve it all she thinks.

Then we have our alleged "farmer" who sounds just like Benny the
alleged butcher, who forgot where he lived. Clearly our alleged
farmer is not aware that WA is part of Australia, nor the problems
that exist in the WA meat industry, so can't be reading too many
farming papers. Perhaps our "farmer", judging by the posts so far,
is just yet another fraud, which seems rather common on these
animal welfare threads.

Next we have WA farmers, who are busy loading another half a million
lambs for the Hajj festival, where live animals are required for
religious reasons. These lambs are not wanted by the local trade,
but are worth 3 times more to the customers on boats. Besides, there
would be no killing space for them. The farmers are cheering the
live sheep trade, they can actually now buy their family some presents for Chrissy, their net income has virtually doubled then
what would have been, if the animal libbers had their way.

Then we have a few meat processors. They would love to build new
plants in WA, but red tape has bogged them down completely, they
can't get labour, even if they are prepared to train, so in frustration at the system, they decide not to bother.

Sheesh, WA, with 10% of the population, producing 30-40% of exports,
would be far better simply seceding from the East, then we could
make our own decisions.

I think youll find Yabby that your statement."Sheesh WA,with 10% of the population, producing 30-40 percent of exports would be far better sinmply seceding from the East,then we could make our own decisions.":

It might be useful if you cut and paste a link to qualify those assertions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Australia

"Western Australia, with about 10% of Australia's population, has historically generated approximately 30% of Australia's export revenues, however the recent commodities boom has pushed this figure to almost 40%."

There ya go HS, thats just one of many assertions if you google.

PF
Those leads were from a trade leads. The other leads I offered to foward you are 'private contacts'. Everybody must work at their own pace and it seems you prefer to work on your book. You didnt get back to me about the advisory so I assume perhaps your too busy.
It great you have the interest in Animal Welfare. Not all farmers do.

Yabby I already told you I am sure 99%Ozgirl is not the Farmer.

Yes PF Nicky is right about the proposal for the Ministers office. Yabby Is right as well as is AFIC plus the Animal Liberation people and AA . Thats the whole point everybody nneeds tro contribute.

Yabby You know very well we are not animal liberation

You cant fix it without some serious imput from those with knowledge of the meat trade.
Its just just not possible if you want Government and other players to look at anything seriously.
It is as Yabby said impossible not to to leave the meat industry out of it when we are in fact talking about the meat trade.

It will also take some very serious money to establish new plants and the Government would be expected to be surportive .

I started this thread to discuss alternatives to live exports and intensive farming.
It would be good if we could get past Animal Liberation and Animals Australia are running a rally here or there. Yes its FANTASIC they are doing something. I dont know just how many times you would like me to say that.
I just want to do more because despite great intentions from all the Animal Liberation people intensive farming is on the increase as is live exports.
I mentioned earlier I will be travelling for a few weeks to farms with others and then taking a hoilday break.
I will of course check in as often as possibly and I am not due to leave for a few days yet.
Thanks everybody for your comments.

Hi all
Yabby, for someone who claims to not make assumptions, you make an awful lot of them here. Firstly, what makes you think I'm a bureaucrat? What I have said is simply common-sense business practice; not too difficult to grasp for a management consultant, and applying those skills to the meat industry really is not rocket science. You are very simplistic in your approach.
As I pointed out before, the wealth of a country is not dependent upon export dollars alone, and the live export trade is known to cost millions in lost GDP and household income (yes, I have read the last Hassall and Associates claptrap, claiming that the industry supports the banking and insurance industries, for God's sake, then extrapolate the highly suspect figures of their 2000 report to come to their misleading conclusions. Vested interests).
You are currently delighted with the trade and the extra dollars you say it makes for the farmers. You pre-suppose (correctly I think)that no WA farmers give a damn about the welfare of their animals. Perhaps some WOULD prefer to keep them in this country. I also did not say that wage subsidies were the universal panacea, but if you care to have a look at DEWR statistics, you will find that they, and "broker programs" were the most effective way of a) rescuing industries in trouble and b) countering unemployment.
How do you know that a properly constructed business development plan, possibly with AFIC, wouldn't be an effective way of phasing out live exports? It won't happen overnight naturally. But one thing you people in WA will have to contend with is the changes in Marine Orders No. 43 from January 2007. Those changes will see the worst of the ships currently used removed from Australian waters and/or carrying Australian live animals. And there is quite a number of absolute shockers - even the crews jump ship, if you care to read some extracts from Hansard.
PALE - thank you for your enquiry, I think I'm over the word limit so I'll have to respond in a separate post.
Nicky

A link that explains puts into perspective the cruelty and issues surrounding the Live Export practice.

http://www.liveexportshame.com/