Indonesian Cruelty To Australian Cattle.

Like all Australians I hate to see any animal suffer a frightening and horribly long death.



The cattle producers of Northern Australia are probably even more horrified at this totally unnecessary cruelty - having bred and produced such beautiful animals for export.


The cattle are in excellent condition when they arrive at the yards for shipment; are transported in purpose-built ships and arrive in peak condition - often putting on weight during the journey.


We are therefore doing everything correctly.


Some Indonesians clearly are not.


And to be brutally honest (as much as I like Indonesians) Indonesians (and Asians in general) do not have anywhere near the same concerns for animals that Australians have. Animal cruelty is all too common in Indonesia, and in many parts of Asia.


So what are the solutions?


Stop live exports - and rob decent cattle producers and Australia of an export income? Not very fair! Of course the cattle producers have already stopped shipment after seeing what happens to their beautifully produced animals - but in the long term?


Personally, given the amount of money paid to the Meat and Livestock Corporation by the producers to try and educate the Indonesians about basic killing techniques, I think those responsible for not knowing about these disgusting practices should be sacked immediately, and serious hard-working people who know Indonesia and know cattle - be employed in their place.


Of course, having spent a lot of time in Indonesia, I fully realise that whatever we do there will always be some sad and horrible deaths for some of our beautiful cattle. This is simply because once they arrive, they are often on-sold to people in small villages who are pretty much unconcerned about animal cruelty. This is the reality of a third world country.


I want live cattle exports to continue. But I also want better monitoring of Indonesian slaughtering practices.


But of course at the end of the day - The Indonesians do own the cattle once they arrive.


The only other solution, other than more effective monitoring would be to have Indonesian -staffed abbatoirs (with lower wages, and wages based on productivity) in Darwin and Wyndham - but with our strict killing protocols in place. Still Halal, but in a decent humane way.


Obviously the Unions would disagree.But everyone knows that it was because of union greed that Live Cattle Exports became such a huge business. Remember Mudginberri?

Less Government EQUALS Higher Prosperity

Ted Dunstan (NT News 19th May, 2011) correctly points out that small business in the NT and indeed right across Australia is hurting. Ted then goes on to tell us that in his opinion the NT and Federal Labor governments have done nothing for small business in their recent budgets.


I do not know what Ted would suggest they could have done, but clearly spending and borrowing more and more money, as both governments have done, is having a detrimental, not a positive effect on the small businesses of our nation.


Most thinking Australians would agree that Australia’s best years were during the period 1996 – 2007.


In those years the Howard/Costello government managed to pay back $96 Billion of Labor debt and at the same time provide significant tax cuts to all Australians in most of the eleven years of that government.


This tells me that smaller, low-taxing, low-regulating, well-managed government is the only way to achieve greater prosperity for the entire community and therefore small business as well.


The Big-Spending, Big-Government approach of the disastrous Rudd-Gillard Labor government and here in the NT the similarly wasteful regime of the Martin-Henderson Labor government only ever achieves tears and economic ruination in the long run.

Government should be lean and mean and hardly ever seen.

Marine Supply Base? Another union rort?

Dear Editor,

In principle I support the concept of establishment of an area at East Arm as a Marine Supply Base – to service the Territory’s growing oil and gas industry. It seems like a reasonable idea.

However one wonders what criteria the Henderson Labor Government will use when assessing
the three consortiums tendering to establish and operate the Marine Supply Base?

Could it be Henderson and his union mates will insist that this Marine Supply Base must be owned and operated by a company that has provided an undertaking to employ only union labour?

If this is to be yet another union rort there should be no taxpayer’s funds ($5 million in this years budget) going towards the project whatsoever.

A better, far more transparent way to help with the establishment of a Marine Supply Base would be for the government to call worldwide tenders from companies interested in purchasing parcels of land at East Arm on which to establish and operate a Marine Supply Base. Covenants would obviously apply, but even if a number of companies ended up operating Marine Supply Bases at East Arm, surely that would be better than one heavily unionized “government-selected” operator?