Belly, you are quite correct. A couple of us, with some common sense,
could sort this one out in a short time. But common sense is not something which they teach at the university.

I don't really have that much of a problem with Gillard, as I think
given the opportunity, she shows better judgement then Abbott. But
her hands are tied, she's leading a very weak govt as she has to
pander to the greens and independants, to keep the wheels on the cart.
In this case she would be doing what politicians do, which is focus
on the numbers. She'd be aware that Animals Australia, along with the
RSPCA and Getup, are about to launch a tv campaign against her on the live issue, so this has effectively pulled the rug from under their
feet in the short term.

*So many have never seen a beast die that the act of killing alone gets them up set.*

You are quite correct there! My ex wife was a city girl. She nagged
me constantly, that she wanted to watch me dress a lamb. Eventually
I gave in. She never ate farm lamb again, insisting it had to come
from the supermarket in little packets :)

Yabby, one doesn't have to know 'everything' about a subject to have an opinion on it...housewife or not.

Obviously most people felt strongly enough about stopping the live export of meat to Indonesia to ensure the Government banned the practice.

Naturally they will be working hard on finding a solution to the TEMPORARY ban on live cattle exports, because the Government is bound to be losing money on this ban as well.

There is no need to get your nickers in a knot, and come on with the 'I know more than you do' playground squabble, when we are only into the third day of the ban!

I am both weary and afraid of this subject.
Yabby,in truth an out back Camel has more understanding than Abbott.
I feel sorry for Ludwig, he my party,Australia is being pushed by this hung Parliament.
And by just a few within the party,who serve at best a quarter of the party and the country.
Overnight a great and good man,former senator John Faulkner,from my party's left but one of our best said this.
Reform or die.
I Agree, but he wants reform that includes those fleeing to the greens.
I wish with passion to isolate that group, existing and would be greens.
They, by radical non Representative statements /actions drive the ALP to failure.
Consideration in this horrible matter has only been given to how the government looks.
In effect moving on behalf of voters who are ours already.
And pushing whole sections away, forever.
I am a proud member of the shell, tattered and torn bits of skin,of the NSW country Labor party.
We opposed by a National Party,see its defectors, Katter Windsor and Oakshot, and winning.
We should be taking more country seats, yet we seem not to understand they are not all rich cooky's, they are the inheritors of the people who formed my union and my party.
Labor must stop putting the best mates in power, from the trade union movement comes our very best Hawk for one . but slothful fools too.
NSW was in the hands of some unions too badly thought out foolishness.
This event needed understanding ,it needs now ordinary farmers to say what they know.
I Want to say more continued.

I could write a critic of conservatives, they too are strangled by this hung Parliament, acting against the very sole of their party.
But my fear is my party, and my country, look at the very dirty hands of the ABC here, no not filming this, that is understandable.
But it drove a lie a poorly understood statement from meat and livestock, my ABC is driven by women and greens,and is doing great harm to anti conservative ranks.
Rudd, is too controlling, Gillard however is too lost,Rudd may just have fixed this,we need some one who has brains and guts, Gillard is not that person.
Blown like a chook feather in the wind my party could today fix this.
Get that film of cattle being processed, from our very best killing places, show it.
Tell of the training and purchases we are making.
Tell of the very real probability others will take that market, kill forever without changing anything.
Here I blacken myself, as is my right, I distrust Muslims in my country.
But see, open our eyes, true bigotry about the word Halal, know it is not much different than Jewish killing.
It is their right to continue to kill as they ALWAYS HAVE.
As it is ours to teach how to do it without pain.
My country , thanks to a hung Parliament Wilkie and the senator from south Australia, greens who want to impose only their views on us is in trouble.
Rather than putting an end to this cruelty we are in very real danger of being the reason it gos on forever.

Suze, let me explain it this way to you. If you and your husband got
paid once a year and one govt dept just announced that you might not
get paid this year, so potentially losing your house, because another
govt dept had stuffed up a bit, but through no fault of your own,
would you perhaps be a little anxious? That is exactly what has
just happened to some of the smaller pastoralists in the North.
I see it quite reasonable to express my empathy for them, for if
it was you, you'd most likely be screaming from the rooftops on OLO.

Belly is quite correct, this is coming from the extremes. Now they
are tryng to ban all live exports, without the foggiest notion of
how that will affect agriculture and our crucial ability to be
flexible, given increased climate variability. None of them have
ever had the responsibility have having feed on hand for thousands
of livestock, every single day.

So sadly this mob are in the process of causing more animal cruelty
issues then they ever solved.They are also too ignorant about the
subject to even be aware of it. All heart and no reason is downright dangerous at times. The law of unintended consequences will commonly
smack you in the mouth.

Gawd, what was I thinking?

Reopening abattoirs and improving standards of exporting live animals?

AND I was even willing to pay more for meat as a result. Clearly Belly and Yabby know best, although I'm not sure what.

You go guys! You are a credit to Australian innovation and vision.

:P